Virginians will have an opportunity to speak out at planning meetings on the costly public health problem of obesity.
March 1, 2005 (Press Release) --
The state Department of Health has scheduled eight meetings throughout the state to hear from residents, medical professionals and others on how to prevent and control obesity.
"Obesity is a serious problem for Virginia. It shortens people's lives, affects the quality of life and has a serious economic consequence," state Health Commissioner Robert B. Stroube said in a statement.
A 2002 Health Department survey found that 58.8 percent of Virginia adults are overweight or obese. In 2003, the costs related to obesity totaled $1.6 billion, the department said in a release issued Monday.
The planning meetings, each scheduled for 1 1/2-day sessions, are intended to identify the scope of the problem by region, isolate factors that contribute to obesity and develop policy recommendations on prevention and control.
Representatives from the schools, civic and business organizations, the medical profession and the general public are invited to participate, the Health Department said.
The first meeting is scheduled for March 9-10 in Wytheville.
The department also has scheduled separate meetings in March for participants and managers of public assistance programs and, in May, for health-care providers and insurance companies. Both will be held in Richmond.
Source: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=541&ncid=751&e=6&u=/ap/20050301/ap_on_he_me/fit_overweight_virginia
The state Department of Health has scheduled eight meetings throughout the state to hear from residents, medical professionals and others on how to prevent and control obesity.
"Obesity is a serious problem for Virginia. It shortens people's lives, affects the quality of life and has a serious economic consequence," state Health Commissioner Robert B. Stroube said in a statement.
A 2002 Health Department survey found that 58.8 percent of Virginia adults are overweight or obese. In 2003, the costs related to obesity totaled $1.6 billion, the department said in a release issued Monday.
The planning meetings, each scheduled for 1 1/2-day sessions, are intended to identify the scope of the problem by region, isolate factors that contribute to obesity and develop policy recommendations on prevention and control.
Representatives from the schools, civic and business organizations, the medical profession and the general public are invited to participate, the Health Department said.
The first meeting is scheduled for March 9-10 in Wytheville.
The department also has scheduled separate meetings in March for participants and managers of public assistance programs and, in May, for health-care providers and insurance companies. Both will be held in Richmond.
Source: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=541&ncid=751&e=6&u=/ap/20050301/ap_on_he_me/fit_overweight_virginia
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