In the battle against Obesity, Arizona is doing better than most of the states even though the obesity rates in the country is alarming high. According to an article entitled The state of obesity in Arizona,2018 from the Trust for America’s Health, Arizona has the 30^th highest adult obesity rate in the United States and the 32^nd highest obesity rate for youths of ages 10-17.The source further indicates that the current adult obesity rate in Arizona is currently at 29.5 % which shows a significant increase from the previous years. To reduce and prevent the high obesity cases, the state is putting across several policy actions which will be discussed in this paper.

The state has come up with programs such as the WIC program which was started with the aim of providing nutritional education, healthy foods and breastfeeding support to the Arizona communities.Currently, it serves more than 130,000 individuals.Moreover, there is the Empower program supports licensed child facilities in strengthening obesity prevention and other health issues.The Strong Families AZ aims at helping families in raising healthy kids through frequent home visits. To achieve the ultimate goal; of reducing obesity goal, the following strategies have been put forward.

Empowering the Arizonians to adopt a healthy lifestyle – This is done through programs such as the Empower program of 2010. Moreover, Early Care and Education providers are advised to empower young children into habits that can keep them healthy for life. A report from the health department in Arizona indicated that currently, the Empower program reaches more than 200,000 children throughout Arizona.

Incorporating obesity prevention and treatment into medical care –The overweight and obesity article by the CDC indicated that the state is coming up with policies that allow individuals affected by obesity to access health care easily without being victimized.

Increasing physical activities –People are encouraged to engage themselves in physical activities because regular physical activity is important in promoting healthy lifestyles.The Department of Health and Human Services in the United States has come up with guidelines for all age three, and above to get the physical activities they need to get healthy.This is in line with the Arizona Health Improvement plan for healthy people and healthy communities. Arizona has a well-defined physical activity in ECE settings.Moreover, the state requires students at all learning levels to engage in physical activities. The state has also set limits for screen time in the ECE settings and also has regulations that allow the ECE centers to set limits. (Papa &Agostinelli, et.al, 2017)

Making healthyfoods more affordable and accessible – The state has a healthy food financing board that ensure people have easy access to healthy foods? Of all the schools in Arizona, 99.8 % updated their meal nutritional standards.  (The State of Obesity in Arizona, 2018) .Moreover, there is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program that is participated by about 14.0% of all of the Arizonian’s.

The Arizona Health Department together works to ensure that the programs set are incorporated within the communities.The aim of the department is to Combat obesity by being bold in their work and also using evidence-based solutions in solving the community obesity problem (Papa &Agostinelli et al., 2017)

References

Center for Disease Control and Prevention Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/index.html

Papa, J., Agostinelli, J., Rodriguez, G., & Robinson, D. (2017). Peer Reviewed: Implementation of Best Practices in Obesity Prevention in Child Care Facilities: The Arizona Empower Program, 2013–2015. Preventing chronic disease, 14.

The State of Obesity in Arizona.Retrieved from https://stateofobesity.org/states/az/

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