Posts Tagged ‘Child Health Initiatives’
Bill to Tax Sodas Would Fund Childhood Obesity Programs
Last week, CA’s Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez introduced legislation to tax sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages to fund childhood obesity programs in cities and school districts across the state. Given that this legislation may lead to more discussion in Sacramento about kids’ weight, we thought we’d note some related facts:- The percent of 7th graders at a healthy weight has barely budged over the last decade. In 1999, 67% of CA’s 7th-graders were at a healthy weight; in 2008, that percentage inched upward just slightly, to 68%. Percentages and trends were similar for other grade levels.
- The percentage of kids at a healthy weight varied greatly by county, with several Eastern California counties (Nevada, Plumas, Calaveras, Placer, and Mariposa) having the highest percentages of 7th-graders at a healthy weight in 2008.
- And there also were some vast racial/ethnic disparities. About 80% of Asian-American 7th-graders in California were at a healthy weight, compared to 56% of Pacific-Islanders and 61% of Hispanic/Latinos.
School district-level data are available, too, by clicking on any of the links noted above. And if you know of effective programs or awareness campaigns in your community to help ensure that more kids are at a healthy weight, please add your comments below.
Posted by Andy Krackov
Tags: Child Health Initiatives
ITUP Conference Re-Cap: A Focus on Special Needs
On Feb. 10, I attended the Insure the Uninsured Project conference for the first time, and was extremely encouraged to see such a large and diverse group of key governmental players coming together to talk about health care.
Although I was attending the conference as an exhibitor, I had the opportunity to attend a session focused on insuring kids, which featured a panel of knowledgeable and distinguished speakers, led by Wendy Lazarus of the Children’s Partnership, a veteran in the realm of children’s issues:
- Toby Douglas, from the state Department of Health Care Services
- Dr. Richard Pan, a pediatrician at UC Davis and now candidate for state assembly
- Suzanne Shupe, executive director of the California Children’s Health Initiatives.
Interestingly, the session on insuring kids didn’t focus as much as I expected on the federal health care debate and its impact on kids, especially with reference to the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), but instead the speakers focused on California’s kids — and, in particular, children with special health care needs. The panel was quick to point out the importance of considering this population when discussing health care for kids. In particular, panelists said, kids with special needs face a system that needs reform.
If you serve kids in your work, or have an interest in making sure all kids in California are insured, I encourage you to listen to this panel’s discussion online at ITUP’s website. (Materials and audio will be posted soon at http://www.itup.org/this-years-conference.html.) I didn’t get a chance to attend any other sessions. But, if you also attended the conference and you’d like to leave a re-cap here, feel free!
Posted by Felicity Simmons
Tags: Child Health Initiatives, CSHCN
Just Released: Children Now’s Annual Report Card
Children Now recently released its annual report card, offering an issue-by-issue assessment on how California’s kids are faring. Most of the grades ranged from Cs to Ds. The highest grade was a B+ in the afterschool category. Children Now points out that the overall grade point average in 2010 was lower than at any other time in the 20-year history of the report card.Posted by Andy Krackov
Tags: Child Health Initiatives, Data Projects