National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

September is being observed as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, an observance designed to raise awareness of the serious threat obesity poses to the health of America’s children and to encourage action aimed at decreasing its prevalence in the United States.

According to recent studies, almost one third of American children (over 23 million) are overweight and half of these are considered to be obese obese.

For more information about this observance, please visit:

Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius: Statement on National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month Toolkit

Presidential Proclamation:

Presidential Proclamation - National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, 2012

Background information:

President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Childhood Overweight and Obesity

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; and National Cancer Institute: We Can!

New England City & Town: Health & Human Services Issues: Childhood Obesity