1 PAHO Conference Preventing Obesity in the Americas June 9, 2011 2 Kimberly Elmslie, Director General, Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Public Health Agency of Canada Curbing Childhood Obesity Through Multi-Level Interventions 3 The Public Health Challenge of the 21 st Century Source: Statistics Canada, CCHS Measured BMI: 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey (2.2), Canada Health Survey 4 Prevalence of overweight or obesity, ages years, both sexes, , Canada. Self-reported BMI 25.0 or higher, Self-reported BMI 25.0 or higher, prevalence (%) 5 A Glimpse into Canadas Complexity 14% of children are breastfed exclusively for 6 months. Children aged 2-11yrs watch over 21 hrs of TV/week. Children see over 50 fast food ads and over 30 cereal ads each month. Less than 10% of children are physically active each day. Less than 50% of teens eat 5 fruits and vegetables daily Almost 1 million households reported being food insecure 6 Lessons Learned: The Tobacco Story Era of Clean Air legislation 7 Moving Forward Together To Tackle the Obesity Challenge 8 Strategy 1: Making Childhood Obesity a Collective Priority Encouraging shared leadership and complementary action Mobilizing all sectors of society 9 Strategy 2: Coordinating Efforts on Policy Priorities Improving social and physical environments to support healthy eating and physical activity Identifying and addressing the risk of overweight and obesity in children Chantal, sometimes word early is used after children, not done here on purpose? Improve access and availability to nutritious foods 10 Strategy 3: Measuring and Reporting on Progress Track core indicators of obesity trends and environments Measure and report on progress in action areas. 11 in Motion Ban on Junk Food in Schools Nutrition North Canada Building on Existing Strengths Baby Friendly Initiative 12 Turning the Tide on Obesity and Chronic Diseases