HHS Awards $119M in Grant Monies to Promote Healthy Lifestyles
As part the of nationwide “Communities Putting Prevention to Work” initiative (or as I like to call it, the “Duh” initiative), the Department of Health and Human Services has awarded $119 million in grant monies to states and U.S. territories to support efforts to reduce obesity, increase physical activity, improve nutrition and reduce smoking. The initiative is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and is directed at curbing “behavioral” waste, which is often cited as a factor in the rising costs of health care.
The monies will be allocated to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories to help communities and schools support healthy choices. For example, one projected use of the funds will go towards using the media to support healthy food and beverage choices and increase physical activity, and increasing access to health choices and “safe” places to be active (which is a often-cited as a concern in inner-city areas). Grant monies will also be used to fund “quitting hotlines” for smokers and media campaigns promoting tobacco cessation.
The awards are broken up into three major categories – 1) Statewide policy and environmental change; 2) competitive special policy and environmental change, and 3) Tobacco cessation through quitlines and media. The awards to Michigan are as follows:
Policy and Environmental Change - $1,299,666
Competitive Special Policy and Environmental Change Initiative - $1.5 million to reduce exposure to second-hand smoke, including partnering with Native Americans.
Tobacco cessation through quitlines and media - $1,251,009
The grants to Michigan represent are among the largest in each of the three categories (Michigan received the seventh-highest for Policy and Environmental; seventh in Tobacco cessation, and was included as one of 13 states to receive funding for special policy and environmental changes.) Some examples of other states initiatives under the latter category include a grant of $2.7 million to Texas to promote breastfeeding; $2.3 million to Minnesota to revamp school lunch menus; and $3 million to North Carolina to “conduct a state-level policy analysis and develop a process to promote physical activity through land use and transportation planning.”
After the jump - Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign
The release of the HHS monies coincides with the launch of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative, which aims to tackle childhood obesity. The Let’s Move! website features particular disturbing facts – that childhood obesity or excess weight threatens approximately one-third of American children; that the United States spends $150 billion every year to treat obesity-related conditions; and that obesity rates have tripled in the past 30 years.
The Let’s Move! campaign will focus on providing healthier food in schools, helping children to stay more physically active, and making healthy food affordable and available across the country.
While I certainly applaud and see the necessity in efforts such as the HHS grants and Let’s Move!, I also find the necessity of it discouraging (hence my “Duh” comment above.) I find it unfathomable that people still are not aware of and cannot comprehend the dangers of smoking; or that parents need to have a red flag waived in their faces telling them it’s bad to feed their kids pizza and McDonald’s every night. The need for such program underscores the importance of fixing the health care system and finding ways to reduce costs before expanding coverage.
