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About YMCA Activate America
YMCA Activate America™ is a national initiative that is
rallying YMCAs across the country to further enhance their
service and support to kids, adults and families who want
to live a healthy lifestyle, but struggle to do so. As a
part of YMCA Activate America, YMCAs are also deepening
their commitment to community wide efforts to promote
healthy living and intensifying their collaboration with
other community partners to magnify community benefits.
As a valuable community resource, the Heritage YMCA
Group is proud to join in this national effort to help
those in our community live healthier lives. YMCAs are for
people of all faiths, races, ages, incomes and abilities.
YMCA Activate America was created because—as the
nation's oldest and largest community based organization
with over 2,600 YMCAs, 20.2 million members and a mission
dedicated to health and wellness for more than 150
years—the YMCA is uniquely qualified and positioned to
impact our country's growing obesity, chronic disease, and
health care crisis.
To maximize its impact, the YMCA of the USA has
enlisted national partners to provide expert advice on the
development of YMCA Activate America. These partners
include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Steps to
a Healthier US initiative, Harvard School of Public Health
and Stanford University School of Medicine. In addition,
organizations such as Disney Channel, Kellogg Company,
JCPenney Afterschool Fund, Kimberly-Clark Corporation and
PepsiCo have been instrumental in supporting this
initiative.
A Growing Obesity & Healthcare Crisis:
- As more and more Americans face chronic diseases and
obesity, our country is challenged with a public health
crisis. The prevalence of overweight/obesity has
increased dramatically across the nation and is now an
epidemic. The effects on our children, families, and
communities are far reaching—but they can be prevented
and they are reversible.
- Over the past 20 years, unhealthy behaviors,
including physical inactivity and unhealthy eating, have
led to an epidemic of obesity and related chronic
disease in the United States.
- With 60 million adults-or 30 percent of the U.S.
adult population-and 9 million children obese or
overweight, increased physical activity for our children
and families is of critical importance to our community.
- Today, obesity is associated with a series of
chronic health conditions—including Type 2 diabetes,
hypertension, heart disease, stroke, breast cancer,
colon cancer, gallbladder disease, arthritis, sleep
disturbances and breathing problems1-putting
the United States in the middle of a serious health
crisis and reducing the quality of life of millions of
Americans.
- In addition to the chronic diseases and health
conditions associated with obesity, being obese is also
associated with a lower health-related quality of life.
If we fail to curb this obesity epidemic, the youth
today will likely have a lower life expectancy than
their parents, reversing a trend that has been
increasing for nearly two centuries2.
- Research has shown that small, consistent changes to
daily physical activity and eating patterns can add up
over time to big rewards. Small activities such as
adding 2,000 extra steps and eating 100 fewer calories
each day are enough to help most Americans prevent the
current average annual weight gain of 1-2 pounds3.
National Statistics:
- For children born in the U.S. in 2000, one in three
will develop diabetes, and Latino females are impacted
even more – 1 in 2 will develop diabetes4.
- 65 percent of all people age 20 and older are
overweight or obese.5 Since 1991, the
prevalence of obesity among adults has increased by more
than 75 percent.
- More than 50% of U.S. adults do not get enough
physical activity to make a difference in their health.6
- During 2005, a total of only 36% of high school
students met currently recommended levels of physical
activity on = 5 days a week.7
- During 2005, 80% of high school students had not
eaten 5 or more fruits and vegetables daily and 67% did
not attend physical education classes daily.8
- Based on figures from 2000, health problems related
to obesity cost our country an estimated $117 billion a
year due to direct health care costs, as well as the
indirect economic costs of lost productivity.9
- Hospital costs related to childhood obesity alone
have tripled in the last 20 years.10
1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
available at:
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/index.htm
(last visited March 3, 2006)
2 Olshansky SJ, Passaro DP, Hershow RC,
Layden J, Carnes BA, Brody J, Hayflick L, Butler RN,
Allison DB, and Ludwig DS. A Potential Decline in Life
Expectancy in the United States in the 21st Century.
NEJM 2005; March 17, 2005; 352 (1138-1145).
3 Hill JO, Wyatt H, et al. "Obesity and the
Environment: Where do We Go From Here?" Science, vol
299: February 7, 2003
4 Narayan KMV, Boyle JP, Thompson TJ,
Sorensen SW, Williamson DF. Lifetime risk for diabetes
mellitus in the United States. JAMA 2003 October
8;290(14):1884-1890.
5 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among Adults:
United States, 1999–2002, available at
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/obese/obse99.htm
(last visited March 3, 2006).
6 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Surveillance Summaries, December 2, 2005. MMWR
2005:54(47);1208-1212.
7 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Surveillance Summaries, June 9, 2006 MMWR 2006: 55 (No.
SS-5)
8 Ibid.
9 U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services. The Surgeon General's call to action to
prevent and decrease overweight and obesity. [Rockville,
MD]: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Public Health Service, Office of the Surgeon General;
[2001]. Available from: US GPO, Washington.
10 Wang G, Dietz WH 2002 Economic burden of
obesity in youths aged 6 to 17 years: 1979–1999.
Pediatrics 109:E81-1
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