Healthy People

ICYMI: The recording of the Healthy People 2030 webinar Planning for Individual and Community Health is now available. During this one-hour event, ODPHP presented on the webinar’s four featured objectives related to public health infrastructure and planning. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics also shared the latest data for each objective, and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials discussed addressing public health infrastructure at the state and local levels.

In the United States, nearly 1 in 5 children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 years were affected by obesity in 2020. Worse still, childhood obesity rates rose during the pandemic, and they continue to increase. These statistics aren’t abstract epidemiologic concepts. They clearly reflect that our children are becoming sicker and at greater risk for lifelong problems, and they are entirely preventable.

When it comes to healthy diets, the science says to eat more vegetables and consume less sugar. Nutrition is key to health and well-being, but as Healthy People 2030 data indicate, we’ve got more work to do — especially when you consider that most American diets don’t align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.