Health Advocacy Plan

Health Advocacy Plan

PART 1

Selected Population Health Issue

The selected population for addressing the issue is the San Diago county school students.

Advocacy Programs

Advocates can be effective agents for change at any level - national, state, local or institutional. The following are examples of how advocacy can transform policies in a variety of settings. (Bellows, 2008)

Planning strategies and actions to prevent childhood obesity in our communities and throughout the population will require attention to policy and advocacy. We need to find ways to expand our ability as nurses to advocate for policies at the local, state, and national level that change conditions in society. These changes, including regulatory action, should be designed so that children and their parents can make healthier choices about nutrition and physical activity.

Attributes That Made Those Programs Effective

The epidemic of obesity in the United States is finally gaining the national attention it deserves, but reducing overweight and obesity is an unusually complex challenge for practitioners and advocates. There are a multitude of dimensions that contribute to today's obesity rates - ranging from disparities in access to healthy food and physical activity opportunities, to targeted marketing practices. Fast food restaurants alone spend $520 million in marketing to children - incentivizing the sale of 1.2 billion meals with toys to children. 2 These powerful social and economic drivers can discourage some people and organizations from making changes to the status quo. To counter these dominant forces, informed parents, clinicians, community members, policymakers, and others need a strategic plan to advocate for health promoting policies and environments(Chrislip, 2008).

Home, work, school, and clinical environments all influence the choices that children make regarding food and physical activity. Therefore, strategies that engage stakeholders across these contexts offer more promise of delivering an effective response to the obesity epidemic than efforts made by a single entity. Consequently, public-private collaborations targeting obesity prevention are increasingly being pursued as they have the potential to bridge resources and reach a greater number of individuals than either partner could alone. Successful collaborations can affect program, policy, and health outcomes through a number of means. The type of resources each partner can bring to the table, including funding, leadership, and staff-support can greatly influence the shape, reach, and outcomes of an initiative. For example, partnering with schools is becoming increasingly common as they have the ability to reach large numbers of children. With the help of other stakeholders, many schools have recently implemented policies to create healthier environments that not only improve children's weight, but also their self-esteem and academic performance (Binns, 2010).

With the overarching goal of improving the health of children and families in San Diego County, the objectives of the Childhood Obesity Action Plan include the following:

? Building awareness about the problem of childhood obesity

? Serving as a guide for all those in San Diego County who are interested in addressing childhood obesity, including agencies, institutions and neighborhoods

? Planting a seed and building momentum for action without being prescriptive

? Catalyzing partnerships for ...