Starting Early:

Preventing Obesity in Early Childhood

A Statewide Campaign to Stem the Tide

CWA, working with key partners in breastfeeding, community health outreach, child care and early childhood health, has launched an Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Initiative in California. Supported by a grant from the Vitamin Cases Consumer Settlement fund, CWA and the WIC community will lead a statewide campaign to fight the development of obesity and chronic disease where it is most preventable -- in California’s youngest children and their families.

As the obesity debate continues to gain momentum, CWA will push for more attention to children ages zero to five, an important group that is currently being neglected by both policymakers and funders. CWA will seek allies and partners to provide continued support for environmental improvements in early childhood nutrition programs and policies, particularly efforts to improve hospital and workplace lactation support, to protect and improve diabetes prevention and treatment among low-income populations, and to involve WIC participants and providers in grass-roots efforts to improve local nutrition and physical activity environments.

Working with a diverse group of WIC, child care, public health, and community-based organizations that serve young children and their families, CWA staff will convene an Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Forum in 2006, in order to create and push forward a multi-year Action Plan for Early Childhood Obesity Prevention for California in 2007 and beyond.

The purpose of the Forum process, and the resulting Plan, will be to:

  1. Analyze existing health and demographic data and research on key nutrition problems and obesity etiology in very young children and their families;
  2. Based on this research, identify and evaluate transferability of "best practice" preventive interventions with this population;
  3. Identify "best policy levers" for re-tooling or building capacity for obesity prevention work among existing, publicly-funded early childhood programs, including WIC, CHDP, Head Start and child care; and
  4. Seek private, state, and federal funding to protect, sustain and expand successful approaches.

Please contact Laurie True at California WIC Association for more information.


Early Childhood Reports



Forum - February 7, 2006

Materials