Media Advisory

CDC Holds Inaugural Conference to Address Obesity Crisis in the United States

What:

Weight of the Nation Conference

Who:

The primary audience includes elected and appointed public policy makers; federal, state and local public health leaders; as well as partners and researchers engaged in policy-related obesity prevention and control initiatives.

Weight of the Nation is designed to provide a forum to highlight progress in the prevention and control of obesity through policy and environmental strategies. The conference will:

• Feature an address by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on HHS efforts to combat obesity.
• Feature comments from Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Highlight strategies that overcome barriers to the primary prevention of obesity for youth and adults in four settings: communities, medical care, schools, and workplaces.
• Provide economic analysis of obesity prevention and control efforts, such as the cost burden of obesity on healthcare system and employers and the cost effectiveness of prevention.
• Highlight the use of law-based efforts to prevent and control obesity.
• Determine promising strategies for the prevention and control of obesity.

When:

July 27-29, 2009

Where:

Omni Shoreham Hotel
2500 Calvert Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

Important instructions: Registration for media is free. Media are asked to register using the code “press2009won.”  You will have to verify your press credentials at the onsite registration table.

For more information about the conference and to view the full program schedule, visit: www.weightofthenation.org 

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES