By Patricia Carter
December 15, 2008

USCM Second Vice-President Burnsville Mayor Elizabeth B. Kautz convened a USCM Healthy City Summit in Tucson, (AZ) on December 3-4, 2008 to discuss strategies that cities can initiate to help curb the obesity epidemic in children and adults. Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup, a long-time advocate for active living and healthy eating, co-officiated the meeting with Kautz. Participants and speakers came to the meeting from across the country, including the 17th Surgeon General of the United States, Richard Carmona.

Dr Carmona's keynote remarks focused on the national health care crisis and evidence based solutions. According to Carmona, "We don't have a health care system; we have a sick care system that is perversely incentivized." Our current system rewards health care providers for making people better when they get sick, but lacks an adequate focus on wellness and helping the populations to avoid preventable diseases.

Kautz shared data from the fifth annual F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America, 2008 report from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that illustrates the impact that obesity has had on health in our country. According to the report, two-thirds of American adults are either overweight or obese and childhood obesity rates have nearly tripled since 1980, from 6.5 percent to 16.3 percent. The total cost of obesity and physical inactivity in 2000 was estimated to be 117 billion. The cost burden of obesity effects municipalities who, as a direct result of the epidemic face higher employee-related health care costs and also, because of the childhood epidemic, the prospect of next generation of citizens with higher disease burden and less ability to participate in a competitive economy.

The meeting's focus on local solutions embraced the reality that mayors have played a significant role in response to the obesity epidemic. In addition to presentations by Mayors Kautz and Walkup, Somerville (MA) Mayor Joseph Curtatone , who is currently serving on an Institute of Medicine committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention, provided an overview of the highly acclaimed Shape Up Somerville program.

USCM convened the summit with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Kaboom!, a USCM business council member. Sessions focused on the food environment including access to healthy foods and the built environment including how city design can support healthy lifestyles.

During the food discussion, presenters provided Mayors with an overview of the ways that access to healthy food and health disparities intersect to deepen the current obesity epidemic. Ben Thomases, the first-ever food policy director for New York City suggested that the creation of healthy food retail requires a multi-dimensional approach. In New York City this means that policy is focused in at least three ways: use of federal food support programs; making the food served at city events healthier; and providing healthy food retail options. Other presenters reinforced and reiterated that the quality of available food, food portions, public education, and industry marketing all play a role in the obesity epidemic.

The built environment discussion highlighted ways in which communities can enhance city design to inspire physical activity. James Hunn of Kaboom! provided an overview of the ways that the Playful Cities USA is increasing the quality, quantity and access to play for children across the country. Proximity to parks and recreation, the availability of bike lanes and sidewalks, and other city design elements can impact the obesity epidemic and the health of communities.

Other summit speakers included: Dr. Adewale Troutman, Director of Health for the Louisville, KY Metro Health Department; Mildred Thompson, Vice President of PolicyLink; Pam Smith, a nutrition and wellness advisor for the American Diabetes Association's "Shaping America's Health"; Dr. Philip Huang, Medical Director and Health Authority for the Austin/Travis County, TX Health Department; Amy Winterfeld, healthy policy analyst with the National Council of State Legislators; and Dr. Rogan Kersh, Associate Professor of Public Service at the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University.

USCM will be posting select presentations from the meeting on our website. Please join the Mayors Healthy Cities Campaign to receive email notification, when the web has been updated, as well as, vital information about health and wellness initiatives underway at USCM. To join the campaign go to: http://www.usmayors.org/chhs/healthycities_registration.asp or contact Patricia Carter at PCarter@usmayors.org