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The Healthier North Carolina Summit
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Raleigh, NC
The Healthier North Carolina Summit, hosted by Trust for America's Health and the NC Division of Public Health, in partnership with Health Carolinians, and funded by The Duke Endowment and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, was a resounding success!
The event helped to showcase North Carolina's innovation in fighting obesity and featured presentations by local, state, and national obesity experts. This interactive event brought together broad constituencies - leading North Carolina policy makers, business leaders, educators, and public health and medical experts, as well as national figures - to discuss what is and is not working in North Carolina's communities regarding obesity and chronic disease, with the goal of impacting policy at the state and local level.
Two-Year Campaign for a National Public Health System
Why North Carolina?
Summit Outcomes
Summit Presentations
Results from Summit Interactive Voting
Media Coverage
Partners
Today our nation is confronted with multiple health crises. Consider this:
- Chronic illnesses like heart disease, diabetes and cancer account for 70% of death and disability. Most are preventable, but too little effort is focused on preventing illnesses before they occur.
- Skyrocketing obesity rates leave 119 million adults at risk for over 35 major diseases, resulting in a huge shift in the health and health care of Americans. Seven out of 10 of the heaviest states in the U.S. are in the Southeast. Sixty one percent of North Carolinians are overweight or obese.
- Direct and indirect costs of obesity, including medical costs and lost productivity, amount to more than $117 billion each year. Employers and businesses bear a sizable portion of the costs associated with treating obesity-related conditions. In North Carolina, physical inactivity and other unhealthy lifestyle choices are adding up to an annual loss of $24.1 billion in public and private funds.
- Our children continue to be the most vulnerable. Childhood obesity more than doubled in the past two decades. More than nine million children are either overweight or obese. In North Carolina, more than a quarter (27 percent) of high school students are overweight or obese, as are 26 percent of low income children aged two to five.
The range of health threats facing North Carolina requires a modern public health system that is adequately funded and more agile, strategic, and responsive in its approach to preventing diseases and to saving lives. How do we achieve it? In a recent report, the Institute of Medicine tacitly concluded political will is the key missing element for creating a healthier America.
Trust for America's Health (TFAH) recently began a national campaign to energize and sustain a partnership of public health leaders and other non-traditional public health supporters, such as CEOs of leading corporations, hospitals, and national policy makers, to create the political will needed to support stronger public health systems. We, along with Healthy Carolinians, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and The Duke Endowment, are hosting the Healthier North Carolina Summit on August 29th. The event will highlight the state's health needs, bring greater support for disease prevention efforts, and serve as a catalyst for national improvements.
TFAH has noticed the recent aggressive steps North Carolina has taken to combat overweight and obesity, but like elsewhere, more must be done to combat obesity and its related chronic diseases. Because the region hosts top-notch universities, schools of public health, hospitals, and national corporations, and is home to several influential national policy makers, the Healthier North Carolina Summit will bring together various stakeholders to create a formidable partnership to advance better public health prevention policies in the state and nationwide.
Building Excitement, Partners for Disease Prevention
The Healthier North Carolina Summit will focus on obesity, using its impact on our long-term health, and on our wallets, to communicate to leaders outside the field the importance of disease prevention and the overall public health system. All attendees will be challenged to adopt initiatives that improve the health and nutrition of North Carolinians, or at least agree to lobby policy makers for various actions. From the Summit, recommendations will be developed for improving state and national public policies.
Developing Sustained Advocacy for Public Health
Sustaining the momentum gained from the summit and ensuring follow-through for commitments made by participants is a critical factor for success. TFAH believes community groups must be involved in the two-year national advocacy campaign to make sure realistic and appropriate public health policies are advanced. We will work with community leaders to provide ongoing advocacy and media training through advocacy guides, online tools, and other resources to support and enhance local and state efforts. TFAH will do the same to engage business leaders in advocacy, enlisting their help where appropriate in outreach to policy makers. Coordinated with TFAH's government relations activities, these advocacy partnerships will be instrumental in implementing the improved public health policies advanced from the Summit.
This Summit, along with a sustained advocacy, will help North Carolina and its residents play a critical role in shaping the future of public health in the state and nationwide. Today's health threats are urgent. Now is the opportunity to galvanize national interest and take action for a public health system that protects all people.
| Plenary Session I | Overview: Obesity and Chronic Disease in North Carolina and Across the U.S.
F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America 2006
North Carolina's Plan to Prevent Overweight, Obesity and Related Chronic Diseases
Presentation from the conference
Read the plan | | Plenary Session II | Childhood Obesity in North Carolina and Across the U.S.
Fit Families NC: A Study Committee for Childhood Overweight/Obesity: Olson Huff, MD, Commissioner, North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund, and Co-Chair of the Overweight/Obesity Study Committee
Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance – A Blueprint for Action: Russell Pate, PhD, Member, IOM Committee on Prevention of Obesity in Children and Youth, and Associate Dean for Research/Professor at the Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina | | Luncheon Keynote | Sally Squires, Washington Post columnist/Founder Lean Plate Club (coming soon) | | Plenary Session III | Adult Obesity in North Carolina and Across the U.S.
Health Care: Don Bradley, MD, MHS-CL, Executive Medical Director, BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina
Work Site: J. Keith Crisco, President and Chairman, Asheboro Elastics Corporation
Built Environment: Sig Hutchinson, Chair, Open Space and Parks Advisory Committee, Wake County | | Closing Session | Developing and Carrying Out an Advocacy Agenda
Models from the California Strategic Alliance: Leslie Mikkelsen, Managing Director, Prevention Institute |
View Results (927K Powerpoint presentation)
A problem with putting on pounds
The News & Observer, September 3, 2006
Weight of our state: 14th fattest
Raleigh News & Observer, August 31, 2006
Groups push to slim down N.C.
Greensboro News-Record, August 30, 2006
The Healthier North Carolina Summit is supported by The Duke Endowment and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and is presented in partnership with:
Please contact Chrissie Juliano at cjuliano@tfah.org with questions.
Trust for America's Health is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease prevention a national priority.
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