Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Governor's Healthy Students Summit

The General Assembly has designated the third week in September, 2007 and in each succeeding year, as Healthy Virginians/Healthy Students Week. In observance of the first Healthy Students Week, the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Health and Human Resources extended an invitation to local school divisions and health districts to participate in the Governor’s Healthy Students Summit on September 20. The purpose of the Summit was to foster local collaboration between school divisions and health districts to develop action plans to address childhood obesity.

Some of the things learned by Summit participants included: (1)Recent collaborations between public education & public health for the prevention of childhood obesity in various Virginia localities; (2) How Local Wellness Policies can serve as an important tool to guide the development of childhood obesity prevention efforts at the local level; and (3) How the Governor's Scorecard for Nutrition & Physical Activity can serve as a significant motivator for the development of childhood obesity prevention efforts at the local level.

Materials from the summit are posted on the Secretary of Health and Human Resource's website and can be viewed at http://www.hhr.virginia.gov/initiatives/HealthyStudentsSummit/

No comments: