Foundation Commits $500 Million to Childhood-Obesity Prevention

February 6, 2015
by Brian Toporek
Education Week

In recent years, there have been signs of progress in terms of preventing childhood obesity. According to a 2012 report published in JAMA, the obesity rate in New York City's K-8 public school system decreased 5.5 percent since the 2006-07 school year. Similarly, childhood obesity dropped 4.5 percent among all Philadelphia students between the 2006-07 and 2009-10 school years, according to a 2012 study published in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease. In general, childhood-obesity rates in the U.S. more or less stabilized over the past decade, found a 2013 report from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. However, childhood-obesity rates across the world increased 47.1 percent from 1980 to 2013, per a 2014 study published in The Lancet, suggesting much work remains to offset the damage done over the past three decades.

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