Health Advocacy Campaigns Addressing Childhood Obesity
This paper examines childhood obesity as a global and national public health crisis, focusing on two advocacy initiatives: the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity and the Rev It Up! community coalition in Yakima, Washington. It reviews accomplishments in school nutrition, food accessibility, physical activity, and public messaging under the national program, then analyzes the coalition-building challenges faced at the local level. Drawing on these comparisons, the paper recommends targeted policy changes — including breastfeeding promotion and expanded school physical activity — and discusses the ethical responsibilities of school boards, public health nurses, and policymakers in implementing effective, equitable interventions for children.
- Introduction: The Scale of Childhood Obesity: Global and U.S. childhood obesity statistics and scope
- White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity: National program accomplishments across five key domains
- Rev It Up! Coalition in Yakima, Washington: Local coalition goals, structure, and funded programs
- Recommended Policy Changes: Narrowed goals and lessons from coalition setbacks
- Addressing the Policy Problem: Lobbying strategy and unfunded mandate critique
- Ethical Considerations: School board ethics and equitable health access
- Conclusion: Political will and the nursing advocacy role
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- Balances macro-level (national) and micro-level (community) analysis by comparing the White House Task Force with the localized Rev It Up! coalition, giving the argument practical grounding.
- Transitions smoothly from descriptive program review to normative policy recommendations, maintaining a clear argumentative thread throughout.
- Integrates ethical considerations through a professional nursing lens, connecting the ANA Code of Ethics to real school-board decision-making scenarios.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper employs a case-study comparison as its central analytical method. By setting the national program alongside the Yakima coalition, the author identifies transferable lessons — particularly the importance of separating planning from volunteer recruitment — and uses those lessons to generate concrete, actionable policy recommendations rather than abstract prescriptions.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with global and national obesity statistics to establish urgency, then surveys the White House Task Force accomplishments across five domains. A pivot to the Rev It Up! coalition introduces community-level complexity and setbacks. The recommendations section narrows focus to two achievable goals, followed by a policy-mechanics discussion (the "three-legged stool" of lobbying) and an ethics section on school board accountability. A brief conclusion ties advocacy back to the role of public health nursing.
Introduction: The Scale of Childhood Obesity
Most health issues that people face on a day-to-day basis do not become pandemics — but this is not the case with obesity. Over a billion people are affected by obesity worldwide (Miller, et al., 2004). The statistics are particularly discouraging for children. Children who have a body mass index (BMI) greater than the figures in the 85th percentile for their age and gender are considered overweight or obese (Miller, et al., 2004). During the past three decades, the number of children identified as obese under that standard has tripled (Miller, et al., 2004). In the United States, more than 30% of children are overweight or obese, with BMI measurements greater than the 95th percentile (Miller, et al., 2004). The International Obesity Task Force has estimated that, across the globe, 22 million children under five years of age are obese (Miller, et al., 2004). Incredibly, in some parts of Africa, obesity has replaced malnutrition as the predominant nutritional problem — the incidence of being overweight or obese is four times that of malnutrition in those regions (Miller, et al., 2004).
References
ANA Code of Ethics. Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Volume122007/No1Jan07/tpc32_216091.html
Anderson, P. M., Butcher, K. F., and Levine, P. B. (2003). Economic perspectives on childhood obesity. Economic Perspectives. Chicago, IL: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Artz, M. (2006). The politics of caring: Ask not what nursing can do for you. The American Journal of Nursing, 106(9), 91.
Chapter 3 of Health Policy and Politics: A Nurse's Guide (3rd ed.).
Faubion, R. J., Brown, J., Bindler, R. C., and Miller, K. (2012). Creating a community coalition to prevent childhood obesity in Yakima County, Washington: Rev It Up! Prevention of Chronic Disease, 9, 110243.
Miller, J., Rosenbloom, A., and Silverstein, J. (2004). Childhood obesity. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 89(9), 4211–4218.
____. (2010). Solving the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity: Report to the President. Retrieved from http://www.letsmove.gov/white-house-task-force-childhood-obesity-report-president
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.