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

Abstract #113724

Kevin A. Alvarnaz, MBA, Bureau of Chronic Diseases and Injury Prevention, Pennsylvania Department of Health, P.O. Box 90, Harrisburg, PA 17108, 717-787-2957, kalvarnaz@state.pa.us and Allison Topper, MS, Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity, Penn State - Harrisburg, 777 West Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, PA 17057.

In 2001, the Pennsylvania Department of Health received funding from the CDC to develop a statewide program to prevent obesity and related chronic diseases. The Department convened a multi-disciplinary group of stakeholders and released a statewide obesity prevention plan in 2003. The Department also created the Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition & Physical Activity (PANA). Since 2003, PANA has created a powerful coalition of more than 500 public and private organizations, academic institutions, and professional associations to assist in the coordination of statewide efforts to implement the state's Obesity Prevention Plan. This organizational model was designed to work at the intersection of social, environmental, and political processes that influence change. Through the development of a social marketing framework, thousands of schools, community volunteers, and health, recreation, land-use, and transportation professionals have engaged in coordinated programs and activities to create measurable and sustainable change. Pennsylvania has developed a “social movement” for obesity prevention efforts by developing a critical mass around specific and actionable programs and activities. At the same time, systems have been established to measure progress of collective change over-time. As a result of comprehensive and coordinated planning, this social movement has helped to shape state and local policies in transportation, education, and public health and healthcare issues. The session will demonstrate the process for developing statewide infrastructure and explore the functions of this organizational model. In addition, information will be presented on how Pennsylvania is working to evaluate the diversity and contributions of state and local partners.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to

• Define a state model for building a network infrastructure to implement and evaluate an environment and policy-based obesity prevention plan.
• Explain how social marketing can be used as a framework to guide planning, and evaluation of statewide programs and activities to implement evidence-based intervention strategies.
• Demonstrate how assessment and evaluation are integrated into effective program planning and strategic communication plans.
• Utilize organizational networks to coordinate consistent messages to influence state and local policy development.

Keywords: Obesity, Infrastructure

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.

Recorded presentation