Maryland Releases Obesity Prevention Plan
By ALEX DOMINGUEZ
Associated Press
Wednesday, May 3, 2006; 3:21 PM
Teachers, doctors and mothers are among those being enlisted in the battle against obesity under a plan released Wednesday by state health officials.
The plan includes aspects such as encouraging breast feeding, which has been tied to lower obesity rates in mothers and their children, requiring all schools to develop and implement wellness policies by June 2006, and ensuring that health care professionals can educate their patients on preventing obesity.
"The plan covers birth to death, basically. It's not just the local county health department, but all of our partners," said Teresa Moore, the Nutrition and Physical Activity Program Coordinator at the state health department's Center for Preventive Health Services.
"It crosses so many settings it will impact families that live in the community."
In 2003, an estimated 2.3 million Maryland adults, or 59 percent of the population, were overweight or obese and the problem was getting worse. Between 1995 and 2003, the prevalence of obesity increased 34 percent, Gov. Robert Ehrlich said in an introduction to the report.
One of the objectives of the plan is to increase the proportion of Maryland adults who are at a healthy weight from 37 percent to 44 percent by 2016.
Maryland is one of 28 states developing plans under grants from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Seven have already completed their plans and are implementing them, Moore said.
In March, U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona said the threat from obesity will dwarf the threat of terrorism if the nation does not reduce the number of overweight Americans.
Carmona said obesity rates have tripled over the past 40 years for children and teens, raising the risk of diabetes and other diseases and noting that for the first time children are being diagnosed with high blood pressure.
Earlier this month, the National Governors Association also announced a national campaign to get Americans to eat and smoke less and exercise more, encompassing everything from bike rides with the South Carolina governor to anti-smoking statutes.
Maryland Health Secretary Anthony McCann said the state's plan includes a variety of approaches.
"Strategies must be implemented where Marylanders live, work, and play," McCann said.
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