Comparing equitable school wellness policies to programmatic work

Schools are crucial environments in supporting children to maintain healthy behaviors. An unhealthy diet is a main contributing factor to overweight and obese children. Millions of students rely on the school environment for breakfast, lunch, and snacks throughout the school day. NHANES data shows that nearly 17% of children ages 2-19 are obese and that obesity rates have tripled in less than 30 years among 6-19 year olds. Stemming the epidemic of childhood obesity includes increasing the consumption of more nutritious foods. The Multnomah County Health Department's Healthy Active Schools program, through the CDC-funded Control Communities Putting Prevention to Work grant, is working with 7 school districts (72,000 students) to develop, adopt and implement wellness-related policies with a health equity focus. Our partners are addressing the following policies, system and environmental changes: * Restricting advertising and marketing of unhealthy foods along with promoting healthy options * Increasing local food procurement through farm-to-school initiatives * Promoting drinking water and making it more appealing and accessible This presentation will offer participants best practices related to healthy eating in school wellness policies, a review of the importance of wellness policies compared to programmatic work, and health equity considerations will be reviewed.