2599-b. Program development. 1. The program shall be designed to prevent and reduce the incidence and prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents, especially among populations with high rates of obesity and obesity-related health complications including, but not limited to, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, osteoarthritis, asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, other chronic respiratory diseases and other conditions. The program shall use recommendations and goals of the United States departments of agriculture and health and human services, the surgeon general and centers for disease control and prevention in developing and implementing guidelines for nutrition education and physical activity projects as part of obesity prevention efforts. The content and implementation of the program shall stress the benefits of choosing a balanced, healthful diet from the many options available to consumers, without specifically targeting the elimination of any particular food group, food product or food-related industry.
2. The childhood obesity prevention program shall include, but not be limited to:
(a) developing media health promotion campaigns targeted to children and adolescents and their parents and caregivers that emphasize increasing consumption of low-calorie, high-nutrient foods, decreasing consumption of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods and increasing physical activity designed to prevent or reduce obesity;
(b) establishing school-based childhood obesity prevention nutrition education and physical activity programs including programs described in section twenty-five hundred ninety-nine-c of this article, as well as other programs with linkages to physical and health education courses, and which utilize the school health index of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion or other recognized school health assessments pursuant, but not limited, to article nineteen of the education law;
(c) establishing community-based childhood obesity prevention nutrition education and physical activity programs including programs which involve parents and caregivers, and which encourage communities, families, child care and other settings to provide safe and adequate space and time for physical activity and encourage a healthy diet, and can be in coordination with county cooperative extension programs established pursuant to section two hundred twenty-four-b of the county law;
(d) coordinating with the state education department, department of agriculture and markets, office of parks, recreation and historic preservation, office of temporary and disability assistance, office of children and family services and other federal, state and local agencies to incorporate strategies to prevent and reduce childhood obesity into government food assistance, health, education and recreation programs;
(e) sponsoring periodic conferences or meetings to bring together experts in nutrition, exercise, public health, mental health, education, parenting, media, food marketing, food security, agriculture, community planning and other disciplines to examine societal-based solutions to the problem of childhood obesity and issue guidelines and recommendations for New York state policy and programs;
(f) developing training programs for medical and other health professionals to teach practical skills in nutrition and exercise education to children and their parents and caregivers;
(g) developing screening programs in coordination with health care providers and institutions including but not limited to day care centers and schools for overweight and obesity for children aged two through eighteen years, using body mass index (BMI) appropriate for age and gender, and notification, in a manner protecting the confidentiality of such children and their families, of parents of BMI status, and explanation of the consequences of such status, including recommended actions parents may need to take and information about resources and referrals available to families to enhance nutrition and physical activity to reduce and prevent obesity; and
(h) coordinating with the education department, office of temporary and disability assistance, office of children and family services and other federal, state and local agencies to incorporate strategies to curtail the incidence of asthma, chronic bronchitis and other chronic respiratory diseases to enable adults and children to safely increase physical activity.
3. The department, in cooperation with the education department, shall periodically collect and analyze information from schools, health and nutrition programs and other sources to determine the prevalence of childhood obesity in New York state, and to evaluate, to the extent possible, the effectiveness of the childhood obesity prevention program.
Last modified: February 3, 2019