White House Hosts Summit on Childhood Obesity

First Lady Michelle Obama met with task force members on Friday at the White House to tackle the weighty issue of childhood obesity. The task force will be preparing a report that will “serve as a very important road map, with goals, benchmarks, [and] measurable outcomes…” she said.

With one in three children falling into the overweight/obese category, this issue is approaching crisis mode. To stem the tide, and hopefully improve the health of our nation’s youth, the legislature, with the support of the White House, has been implementing programs, instituted the task force, and stumping for an improvement in our food delivery system overall and in our schools.

Back in February the White House announced the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, a $400 million/year initiative aimed to expand access to fresh, healthy food to all underserved urban and rural communities across the country within seven years, creating jobs in the process. During the same month, the First Lady launched her own childhood obesity initiative, “Let’s Move.” The program is quite ambitious, with the goal of developing workable ideas to help end childhood obesity within one generation.

The task force meeting, about 100 strong, was composed on senior Administration officials, doctors, teachers, activists, and other individuals who are committed to ending childhood obesity. Initial discussions focused on the cost of childhood obesity, the lack of playgrounds in neighborhoods around the country, and more esoteric issues such as behavioral economics. Melody Barnes, chairman of the task force and director of the Domestic Policy Council, broke the members into groups with a very specific task: "Come up with three to five of the best ideas, the important actions, the task force should recommend to the president."

It will be interesting to see what recommendations spring from this group of well-researched, knowledgeable individuals. Not only to they have to think outside the box, they need to think within a budget and at a level that works for children, parents, schools, and communities as a whole.