Voices for Healthy Kids: Lessons Learned in Year One of the Childhood Obesity Advocacy Collaboration

Today, nearly one-third of children and adolescents in the United States are overweight or obese.  Obese and overweight children and adolescents are more likely to become obese adults, placing them at increased risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and certain forms of cancer. To address this health epidemic, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the American Heart Association launched Voices for Healthy Kids, a collaboration to reverse the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic by 2015. This initiative focuses on changing local and state policies to help children and adolescents eat healthier foods and be more active.

Since its launch in 2013, the Voices for Healthy Kids strategy has revolved around the advancement of policy priority areas that strengthen and support state and local advocates by advancing evidence-based childhood obesity policy in order to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic.

There are six policy priorities, each focused around specific issue areas around childhood obesity: reducing consumption of sugary beverages; protecting children from unhealthy food and beverage marketing; increasing access to affordable healthy foods; increasing access to parks, playgrounds, walking paths, bike lanes and other opportunities to be physically active; and helping schools and youth-serving programs increase children’s physical activity levels.

Lessons learned from the creation and implementation of the initiative in year one will help advocates develop expertise in childhood obesity public policy,  mobilize their networks for action, and work strategically to deliver advocacy resources to state and local coalitions.