New partnership aims to tackle obesity
HWCF is an independently monitored coalition of about 80 members, including food and beverage companies, trade organizations, non-governmental organizations, and retailers. It was set up in October 2009, with the stated aim of reducing US obesity rates. It has 16 industry members, including the likes of Nestlé, Kraft, Kellogg’s, the Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo, among others.
HWCF and UWW said they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to provide a framework for working together to tackle obesity.
Executive vice president for Community Impact Leadership at United Way Worldwide Stacey Stewart said: “This partnership will help United Way advance our 10-year goal to get 1.9 million more kids healthy and fit.”
About 17 percent of children in the United States are estimated to be obese, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Meanwhile about a third of American adults are obese, with a further third considered to be overweight.
HWCF executive director Lisa Gable said: “One of the best ways to promote healthy communities is to support and promote healthy, active lifestyles. An important part of that is encouraging Americans, especially young people, to pursue a ‘calories-in, calories-out’ approach – taking in fewer calories and expending more through increased physical activity.”
The organizations said they would join forces on their communications strategy, outreach programs, forums, and media activities to address the obesity problem. HWCF and UWW said they are both committed to using “evidence-based approaches to support and promote healthful diets, physical activity, daily energy balance and healthy body weights in an effort to restore energy balance among children.”
HWCF members committed earlier this year to cutting 1.5 trillion calories from the US food supply, with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to act as independent assessor of their progress.
