Michelle Obama has put child obesity at the top of the agenda in the US with her speech at a meeting of state governors; “Nearly one in three of our children in this country is overweight or obese. One in three kids today will eventually develop diabetes – and in the African-American and Hispanic communities the number is nearly half,” she stated. Powerful stuff!
From a UK media point of view, the obesity issue flares up from time to time and then fades away from the public eye just as quickly. Perhaps it hasn’t helped that obesity has oft been likened to a ‘pandemic’ or ‘epidemic’, equating it with the likes of ‘swine flu’, ‘bird flu’ or other storms in the health teacup.
However, unlike other modern ‘pandemics’, obesity must remain in the public eye. We need high profile spokespeople like Michelle to remind us that this health issue isn’t going away in a hurry and that childhood obesity is a vital place to concentrate our efforts.