Healthy People 2030 has released its latest set of tracking data. This, you will recall, is the latest of the US Public Health Service’s 10-year plans for improving the health of Americans. The agencies involved set specific, measurable objectives and track progress toward achieving them.
You can browse the full set of objectives here.
The objectives for overweight and obesity are here. Three have tracking data available.
Of these,One shows no change: Reduce the proportion of children and adolescents with obesity — NWS‑04
Two are getting worse
- Reduce the proportion of adults with obesity — NWS‑03
- Increase the proportion of women who had a healthy weight before pregnancy — MICH‑13
The objectives for Nutrition and Healthy Eating are here.
Of the objectives with data available, two showi improvement!
Three show no change:
- Increase fruit consumption by people aged 2 years and over — NWS‑06
- Increase the proportion of infants who are breastfed exclusively through age 6 months — MICH‑15
- Increase the proportion of infants who are breastfed at 1 year — MICH‑16
Two (plus the obesity one above) are getting worse:
The Healthy People process is helpful for showing what is working and what is not working. The big problem with the process is that is is findamentally unaccountable. No agencies are assigned responsibility for achieving the objectives. Except in some instances (reducing food insecurity during the pandemic, for instance), no money is appropriated.
But at the very least, the progress is of academic interest. It tells us where public health efforts need to be deplyed.
Obesity prevention, anyone?
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