Monthly Archives: June 2011

Report: You Are What You Watch

Earlier this week, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a policy statement on “Children, Adolescents, Obesity, and the Media.” According to the AAP, obesity represents a “clear and present danger to the health of children and adolescents.” The statement claims that “most researchers now agree that the evidence linking excessive TV-viewing and obesity is persuasive,” with dozens of longitudinal and correlational studies documenting a connection.

Posted on Tuesday, June 28th, 2011 By Melissa Musiker
Catogories Nutrition | Tagged AAP, American Academy of Pediatrics, nutrition, television | Leave a comment

Improving Health Through Prevention

Leaders from the National Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health Council hosted a press conference yesterday to release the National Prevention Strategy, the first-ever cross-sector, integrated national strategy to improve health through prevention. The document was developed with input from wide range of federal agencies and an advisory board of stakeholder groups. It has four areas of strategic focus: health and safe community environments; clinical and community preventive services; empowered people; and elimination of health disparities.

Posted on Friday, June 17th, 2011 By HealthScope
Catogories Chronic Disease Health Policy | Tagged National Prevention Strategy, NPHPPHC, prevention, wellness | Leave a comment

Health Care and the Debt Ceiling

A lot has been written and said about the politics of the debt ceiling debate – perhaps too much. Therefore, this is not another piece about the potential impact of reaching the debt ceiling. This is about a major driver of the debate – health care. Although it doesn’t often appear so, there is a fair amount of agreement in the health care debate. Most will acknowledge that Medicare and Medicaid are growing at rates that are unsupportable in the long run. The disagreements, however, are about how and when to address the problem. Politicians, being the kings of the short term, almost always seek to push off the hard choices until the next time, frequently only acting when there is a crisis (see economic meltdown, auto-maker bailout, mortgage bailout, etc.).