11/20/11 Due to reaching maximum capacity of the event venue, PHA has closed registration.
10/19/11 First Lady Michelle Obama announced as Keynote Speaker at Summit.
Millions of American children and families are facing long-term health and social hardships due to an epidemic of childhood obesity that transcends gender, geography, race, and socioeconomic status. Research demonstrates that poor health diminishes academic achievement, reduces global competitiveness, threatens military readiness, and can have sweeping economic ramifications on the United States economy. Today, health care costs to treat chronically ill Americans are projected to reach $6 trillion by 2050—consuming nearly one-sixth of the nation’s 2050 gross domestic product. Simply put, today’s trends are not sustainable or acceptable by any measure. We can and must do better.
By harnessing the power of leadership in private industry, nonprofits, government, academia, civil society, and media, the Partnership for a Healthier America will convene a national summit to catalyze collaboration, promote innovation, and implement results-oriented solutions that will markedly accelerate progress in preventing and solving childhood obesity within a generation. To that end, this summit will support the convergence of philanthropic, government, and private sector efforts to improve children’s health and welfare by ensuring the integration of major efforts ultimately leading to a coordinated and succinct national agenda.
In short, this summit will create a shared forum among leading decision-makers by:
Fostering a dialogue that explores new strategies, rethinks current programs, and pushes innovation to a transformative level seeking to improve children’s health;
Forging partnerships to overcome limitations by devising practical solutions that improve the health and welfare of American children; and
Streamlining initiatives with existing national and regional systems to improve efficiency, optimize funding, and enhance operational alignment between programs and across sectors.
Childhood obesity will not be solved by a single initiative, government action, or Wall Street’s checkbook. It will take the collective input and action of many to foster better health, promote academic achievement, drive global competitiveness, and boost military readiness—all of which will offer the nation’s children brighter, healthier futures.
