About the Conference

Obesity in children and adolescents carries serious health and social consequences and has become a concerning and costly epidemic for families, communities, schools, and health care providers. Over the past three decades, the proportion of overweight children in the United States has almost tripled. Poor nutrition and physical inactivity may soon overtake tobacco as the leading cause of death in the United States. This generation could be the first in United States history to have shorter life expectancies than their parents. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the cost attributable to obesity in United States could be as high as $147 billion in 2008, up from $78.5 billion in 1998.

Beginning in 2001 and every other year since, the California Department of Public Health and the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Weight and Health have joined together to host the Childhood Obesity Conference. The California Endowment and Kaiser Permanente are now official conference hosts. The Conference is the largest gathering of professionals on the topic of pediatric overweight working together toward the common goal of reducing the nation’s childhood obesity rates!

The Conference has become an important way for health care professionals, policy makers, educators, and community advocates to share strategies, develop partnerships, and coordinate efforts to combat the growing epidemic of childhood obesity. It serves a critical role in moving from simply sharing evidence of the obesity epidemic to sharing best practices. The 2011 conference will showcase the latest research, evidence-based best practices, and policy and environmental change strategies.

Conference Goals

1. Convene diverse stakeholders to share knowledge, build partnerships, strategize, and promote best practices in providing all children access to a healthy diet and plentiful opportunities for physical activity.
2. Share and celebrate successes in beginning to reduce overweight and obesity among children and recognize leaders for their contributions.
3. Continue to build the movement of scientists, practitioners, elected officials, residents, parents, youth, and other stakeholders to embrace the concept of Health in All Policies in order to change social norms and practices, so that healthy eating and physical activity become easy choices for all children.
4. Examine the causes and consequences of ongoing health disparities and continue to share and develop cutting-edge strategies to understand and reduce inequities particularly in high-risk, low-income communities.
5. Discuss and develop emerging research, exemplary community-based efforts, effective policy strategies, and other efforts to promote and sustain healthy eating and physical activity practices among children.

Conference Tracks

The 6th Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference will build on experiences of the past five conferences with presentations through eight themed tracks:

• Agriculture and Food Systems
• Basic and Applied Research
• Built Environment, Land Use and Transportation
• Community Nutrition and Physical Activity
• Early Childhood (0-5) Education
• Marketing to Kids
• Health Care Prevention Strategies
• School/After School Programs and Policies

Who Should Attend

• Education community
• Health care professionals
• Public health professionals
• Early childhood and after school providers
• Parent and youth-based organizations
• Policymakers
• Community and business leaders
• Sustainable agriculture and food system leaders
• Farmers
• Parks and recreation planners and providers
• Urban and rural planners
• Academic researchers
• Philanthropic organization leaders
• Registered Dietitians

Conference speaker Robert Ogilvie and other experts discuss joint use.