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Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States and is projected to shorten American life expectancy by 2–5 years over the next 35 years (Partnership for the Public Good, 2015).

Childhood obesity is a serious health problem in the United States where 1 in 5 children and adolescents are affected (CDC, 2022).

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Being obese or overweight can cause serious health conditions including asthma, stroke, cancer, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and premature death (Partnership for the Public Good, 2015).

For children and adolescents aged 2-19 years in 2017-2020, the prevalence of obesity was 19.7% and affected about 14.7 million children and adolescents (CDC, 2022).

Obesity prevalence was 12.7% among 2- to 5-year-olds, 20.7% among 6- to 11-year-olds, and 22.2% among 12- to 19-year-olds (CDC, 2022).

Childhood obesity is also more common among certain populations. Obesity prevalence was 26.2% among Hispanic children, 24.8% among non-Hispanic Black children, 16.6% among non-Hispanic White children, and 9.0% among non-Hispanic Asian children (CDC, 2022).

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Defintion: Information technology is “using hardware, software, services, and supporting infrastructure to manage and deliver information using voice, data, and video or the use of technologies from computing, electronics, and telecommunications to process and distribute information in digital and other forms “ (McGongigle and Mastrian, 2022, p.644)

The Live Well Erie taskforce was developed to help every resident of Erie County achieve his or her full potential, with children being one of three populations of focus (Live Well Erie, 2022).

The Live Well Erie website uses data, videos, and telecommunication to process and distribute information in digital and other forms. Their website can be found here:
https://www4.erie.gov/livewellerie/children

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Give Every Child a Chance to Succeed

Children under 18 years of age represent 20.4% of the County's population. There are nearly 189,000 children under 18 years of age, and of these almost 51,000 are under the age of 5. Children are our greatest resource and investing in their health and success is a down payment on Erie County's future. Children are particularly impacted by their environment and the systems in which they live including their families, schools, neighborhoods and communities.

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Children under 18 years of age represent 20.4% of the County's population. There are nearly 189,000 children under 18 years of age, and of these almost 51,000 are under the age of 5. Children are our greatest resource and investing in their health and success is a down payment on Erie County's future.

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Definition: Communication technology is the use of technology, such as social media, to process and communicate information. It can include email, texting, instant messaging, social networking, tweeting, blogging, or video conferencing.

The CDC recommends using MyPlate.gov as a resource for dietary guidelines to prevent childhood obesity. MyPlate.gov offers a user-friendly app to help track daily dietary goals.

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Live Well Erie has three goals for children. Goal number two is children will achieve comprehensive health, with the initiative to implement a countywide wellness initiative on healthy eating and physical activity, particularly in Erie County Parks (Live Well Erie, 2022). They contantly update their public website with goals and links to community resources to help combat childhood obesity under their goal.

They aim to:

Increase access to healthy and affordable foods and beverages

Increase skills and knowledge to support healthy food and beverage choices

Increase food security

Improve community environments that support active transportation and recreational physical activity for people of all ages and abilities

Promote school, childcare and worksite environments that increase physical activity and increase access, for people of all ages and abilities, to indoor and/or outdoor places for physical activity (Live Well Erie, 2022).

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The CDC recommends using MyPlate.gov as a resource for dietary guidelines to prevent childhood obesity.

MyPlate.gov offers a user-friendly app to help track daily dietary goals.

The app allows you to meet healthy eating goals one at a time, by picking simple daily food goals, seeing real-time progress, and earning badges along the way (MyPlate, 2022).

This easy-to-use app can help you make positive changes (MyPlate, 2022).  Healthy eating can help you achieve a healthier life overall (MyPlate, 2022).

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A Profile of Childhood Obesity in Erie County. Partnership for the Public Good. (2015). Retrieved July 29, 2022, from https://ppgbuffalo.org/files/documents/health/a_profile_of_childhood_obesity_in_erie_county.pdf

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Childhood overweight & obesity. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved July 29, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/index.html

Coordinated Approach To Child Health. United Way of Buffalo and Erie County. (2022). Retrieved July 29, 2022, from https://www.uwbec.org/catch

Live Well Erie. (2022). Retrieved July 29, 2022, from https://www4.erie.gov/livewellerie

Start simple with myplate. MyPlate. (2022). Retrieved July 29, 2022, from https://www.myplate.gov/resources/tools/startsimple-myplate-app

FY 2021 performance report - USDA. (2021). Retrieved July 30, 2022, from https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/usda-fy-2021-performance-report.pdf

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Live Well Erie (2022) reports that the indicator of rate of children overweight or obese under their goal “Children will achieve comprehensive health”, has a baseline of 33% in Erie County and 33.8% in New York State.

There has not been much research done on the effectiveness of using MyPlate on childhood obesity. But according to the USDA in 2021, they released numerous supporting MyPlate consumer resources, and the MyPlate.gov website received more than 41 million page views during the fiscal year (USDA, 2021).