STOP Obesity Alliance Steering Committee

LEADERS FROM ACROSS COUNTRY TAKE NEW APPROACH TO OBESITY, OVERWEIGHT

At the first Steering Committee meeting of the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance on July 10, 2007, the members met to develop innovative and practical strategies to help reverse America’s rising trend in overweight, obesity and preventable weight-related chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

Top U.S. consumer, provider, business, labor, health insurance and quality organizations joined earlier this year to form the STOP Obesity Alliance, an initiative that will take a new approach to combating obesity. The Alliance will focus on the barriers – some systemic, some cultural— that prevent effective weight management as a complement to the many initiatives designed to change personal behavior.

By consensus, the Steering Committee pledged to support the following initiatives. In the next 100 days, the Alliance will:

  • Issue a Stigma of Obesity brief in the fall and a formal white paper by end of the year, presenting scientific evidence on the effect stigma has on obesity-related health outcomes. The white paper will include a definition of sustained weight loss success and evaluate futility of treatment and interventions.

  • Co-host a presidential candidate public policy forum called, "Obesity: What the Next President Should Do." The forum will feature a roundtable discussion among presidential candidates' top health and policy advisors on how the candidates view obesity and prevention as a part of comprehensive health reform.

  • Develop specific policy recommendations that take an innovative and practical approach to the systems that affect obesity.

According to Alliance director Christine Ferguson, "There is a real disconnect between medical, personal and societal definitions of success when it comes to the issue of obesity. Whether this is rooted in the belief that obesity is a matter of personal responsibility or that treatments are ineffective, it’s in our national interest to find a new direction."

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