BALTIMORE— Childhood obesity is one of the most devastating issues shaping the health of America’s children and the future of this state. This is especially true for health disparity communities, including African Americans, Latinos, and rural populations, which are especially plagued by obesity and its sequelae.
In an effort to address this crisis, the University of Maryland, in partnership with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, will host a Summit on Childhood Obesity on November 15-16, 2011 at the Hilton Baltimore hotel. The summit will be a statewide symposium and workshop meeting where key stakeholders will exchange and disseminate information on evidence-based strategies, define disparities in morbidity and mortality, identify cultural influences on potential interventions, and ultimately produce an inventory of resources and programs in Maryland on childhood obesity. The summit will also engage prominent figures at the local and federal levels in discussions about current policies. An action plan with clear next steps and accountability metrics will be produced. The goal is to develop a statewide framework to ultimately achieve the summit’s overall mission to reduce morbidity and mortality from obesity.
Childhood obesity is a growing public health crisis among children and adolescents that has continued to rise every year. In the US, one in three children, is either overweight or obese. Reducing childhood obesity is vital in order to promote and encourage a healthier population for future generations.
“When I graduated from medical school in 1972 the obesity rate for children was about five percent at that time. Never in my wildest imagination would I have predicted that over the next 40 years the childhood obesity rate would increase five-fold,” says Jay A. Perman, MD, president of the University of Maryland in Baltimore. “This alarming trend is not just caused by one factor but multiple. It is the responsibility of all of us, working together, to ensure the health and well-being of our children and grandchildren.”
“Over the past decade small steps have been taken to reduce childhood obesity. The government has enacted policy legislation that would create a variety of organizations whose main focus is to curb childhood obesity nationwide through sets of initiatives. We want to bring these groups together,“ says Josh Sharfstein, MD, secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. “This growing push to put a dent in obesity rates has encouraged research and various programs that work towards changing habits and promoting healthy lifestyles for not only kids but families as well.”
Featured speakers at the summit include Congressmen Elijah Cummings, JD, Congressman John Sarbanes, JD, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, JD, mayor of Baltimore; William Dietz, MD, PhD, a director of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention; John Ruffin, Ph.D. director of the National Institute on Minority Health & Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health; and David Plotz, editor of Slate magazine. The summit moderator will be Marc Steiner, president of the Center for Emerging Media and host of The Marc Steiner Show on WEAA-FM.
