Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #108807

Victor Colman, BA, JD, Division of Community and Family Health, WA State Dept of Health, po box 47830, Olympia, WA 98504, 360.236.3721, victor.colman@doh.wa.gov

COLLECTIVE POLICY DEVELOPMENT: PROMOTING NUTRITION & PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN WA STATE

The Nutrition and Physical Activity Policy Leadership Group (NPA-PLG) was formed in the fall of 2004 to facilitate and prioritize the development, adoption, and implementation of state, local and private-sector policies that make it easier for people to choose to be physically active and to eat healthy foods. Initial efforts of the NPA-PLG were on two tracks: one, prioritizing policy choices for the 2005 state legislative session; and, two, to begin to develop a longer-term policy vision for Washington State across local, private and statewide policy levels. Successful outcomes to date of this new partnership will be shared. Also, lessons learned and challenges faced regarding coalition approaches to policy development will be highlighted, including the importance of local (grass roots) activism; the role of some key partners (especially the food industry); facing the issue of health disparities; and how to translate critical concepts of social and physical environmental change to policymakers. The efforts of the fledgling NPA-PLG represent just a small portion of current implementation efforts underneath of the Washington State Nutrition and Physical Activity Plan. The Plan, which was developed in the spring of 2003, has been a major springboard of local and statewide activities over the last two years. The Plan has a special emphasis on the promotion of policies and environmental changes that address food, nutrition education, physical education, and physical activity policies in communities, workplaces, schools, and healthcare settings within the state.

Learning Objectives:

• Participant will better understand the complexity of policy development processes on a current topical area.
• Participant will be able to describe some of the key challenges in developing broad-based coalitions as a method of policy development.
• Participant will be able to better translate critical public health concepts related to broad physical and social environmental change to laypersons, especially policymakers.

Keywords: Policy/Policy Development, Nutrition

Related Web page: www.orggroup.com/WANPA-PLG.html

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.