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“Viewpoints” | Seeking Solutions From IT Instead of From People

By: David Kibbe

When I first came to “Health 2.0” and joined ranks with folks who were leading this charge, it was because I was so thoroughly discouraged by the realm of health information technology for physicians and hospitals and disappointed with both the vendors of electronic health record technology and most of their customers. I saw what was happening on the consumer and patient side of health IT as leapfrogging over the tired, staid, and expensive proprietary client-server apps that were about the only thing in that marketplace. Health 2.0 was an extension ...

“Viewpoints” | The Spread of Obesity in Developing and Transitional Countries

By: Lisa Pawloski

Obesity is increasingly becoming an epidemic in industrialized nations, particularly in the U.S. where one out of every three adults is obese. However, the U.S. is not alone in this emerging public health crisis. Increasingly, transitional nations – which have long fought to simply maintain adequate nutrition among their populations – are being forced to confront a rising tide of obesity among certain sectors of their populations.     I became interested in the rise of obesity in developing and transitional countries during my doctoral work at Indiana University. I was trained as ...

Special Contributor | Will Nutrition Labels on Menus Make America Healthy, Wealthy, and Svelte?

By: Joanne Kenen

One perverse side effect of the stalled national health reform legislation is that popular, commonsense provisions tucked in the bills get stuck too. That includes the restaurant menu labeling requirement, which has support from Democrats; Republicans; the public health community; and, more recently, even the fast-food industry. I got sort of partial to this rule myself, particularly after I started writing about this topic and did a little online nutritional sleuthing about what I grab for lunch on busy days and what I feed my kids on road trips to the ...

Just How Do We Define a “Culture of Health”?

By: Stanley Chin

What determines the health of nations? The answer is not clear: individual behaviors may seem dominant but, on closer inspection, yield to a complex interplay of genetics; economic constraints; cultural norms; social interactions; one’s prenatal environment; and many other interrelated, sometimes time-delayed, physically distant factors. Given this conundrum, a useful approach is an ecological perspective. Consider individuals nested within many overlapping, sometimes competing, sometimes supporting systems. Taken together, these systems form a culture of health in which each of us is embedded. Our new research project at Altarum Institute on ...

“Viewpoints” | A Crucial Tool in Fighting Childhood Obesity: Monitoring Body Mass Index

By: Ron Kind

It’s no secret that childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of obese children has tripled since 1980, with 16 percent of children classified as overweight or obese. That is more than 9 million 6-19-year old children who are susceptible to chronic, debilitating diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. The epidemic drains our health care system, costing $147 billion last year alone. And for the first time, today’s youth are not expected to live as long as their ...

“Viewpoints” | Give High School Students Healthy Transportation Choices, Too

By: Earl Blumenauer

We all recognize the signs of a livable community: people biking and kids walking safely around their neighborhoods. These are important forms of commuting that also contribute to a community’s vitality. This is especially true for children, who should be able to securely walk and bike to their most important destinations: schools, parks, and their friends’ homes. Fortunately, the federal government has recognized the importance of providing our children with safe and convenient ways to walk and bike to school. In 2005, building on the success of the Safe Routes ...