Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
Obesity, a lack of regular physical activity, and poor nutrition are serious health concerns in Alaska. About 1 out of 3 children in Alaska is overweight or obese as are about 2 out of 3 Alaska adults. Only 1 in 5 Alaska high school students get the recommended sixty minutes of physical activity every day and only in 1 in ten eat the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables. It is clear that healthy behaviors that start early can become habits for a lifetime, so Alaska is proposing a series of evidence-based strategies that extend through the lifespan. These strategies will support regular physical activity and healthy food and drink options for its youngest kids, as well as projects that promote better health for Alaskans of all ages by setting healthy food service guidelines in worksites and building on established plans for transportation systems that support safe options for physical activity. Alaska’s plan proposes to implement statewide and local-level interventions that support healthy nutrition, breastfeeding and safe and accessible physical activity. These interventions support the youngest Alaskans growing up healthy and strong with breastfeeding and early care along with education initiatives. The plan builds a healthy workforce by increasing the availability of healthy foods and beverages in worksites, and helps Alaska children and adults be physically active through increased access to a safe and walkable transportation system. The plan focuses on nutrition-specific strategies, including implementing food service guidelines in hospitals and worksites, with an initial focus on the Alaska Native Health Campus; and improving breastfeeding practices in birthing facilities, with an initial focus on facilities with low Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC) assessment scores and low breastfeeding duration rates. Alaska’s plan includes a physical activity-specific strategy that builds on a current evidence-based project in Anchorage, the home of over half of the Alaska population. Alaska’s project team will partner with the Metropolitan Transportation Organization in Anchorage to implement Vision Zero, a community commitment with the goal to improve the safety of Anchorage’s transportation system and eliminate major injuries and deaths on Anchorage roadways. This project will create activity-friendly routes that safely connect sidewalks, trails, bicycle routes, and public transit with homes, early care and education sites, schools, worksites and parks. Alaska will build on previously established partnerships with early care and education ECE organizations to implement physical activity and nutrition standards into statewide systems that include: licensing and administrative regulations; Alaska’s Child and Adult Care Food Program; professional development; statewide technical assistance networks; and Farm-to-Preschool programs. Our program will develop and share communication materials for all strategies through worksites, hospitals, local government organizations and other critical partners to promote physical activity and healthy nutrition. All of these strategies will improve the quality of life for Alaskans of all ages and reduce health care costs for individuals, payers, and communities.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
