|
Did you know that winning the battle on the obesity epidemic will: Reduce Health Care Costs Missouri expenses for obesity in 2003 were $1.6 billion, of which $413 million and $454 million were derived from Medicare and Medicaid, respectively, meaning Missouri taxpayers were paying. The annual US costs of heart disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes are $431.8 billion, $93 billion, and $132 billion, respectively According to the Harvard Nurses Study, nine out of ten cases of type 2 diabetes could be prevented by a low-risk lifestyle. Reducing the prevalence of these preventable disorders would save billions of dollars in taxes Missouri ranks 45th of all states in healthy lives according to the State Scorecard on Health Care Performance by the Commonwealth Fund. Improve the Economy The Milken Institute projects that preventable chronic diseases such as obesity and heart disease will cost $1.1 trillion dollars in the year 2023 in health care and workplace absenteeism. Prevent Human Suffering Type 2 diabetes can progress to blindness, amputation of toes, feet, and limbs, kidney failure, heart attacks, and an overall poor quality of life. Much of this suffering is preventable.
A LIFE WITHOUT |
Obesity InitiativeMIZZOU FOR YOU The Mizzou For You Healthy Lifestyles Consortium is a coordinated interdisciplinary attack on the obesity epidemic in the State of Missouri and in the nation. The Battle Has Begun Mizzou already has the largest obesity community extension activities in the state and one of the largest in the nation. Over 2/3 of Missouri school children currently receive anti-obesity nutrition and fitness education from Mizzou. The highly acclaimed children’s My Activity Pyramid was developed at Mizzou. Mizzou’s newly expanded Nutritional Sciences Department, part of three colleges, is uniquely situated to promote an interdisciplinary approach to obesity. Six new Nutritional Sciences faculty positions will be dedicated to obesity research and outreach. Finally, Mizzou’s nationally renowned comparative medicine program continues to make new scientific discoveries that advance the treatment and prevention of obesity and our understanding of the role of exercise in human health. We Need Your Help Although Mizzou has strengths in obesity research, patient care, education, and policy, the progress made so far has been by groups working separately. Since no single intervention or approach has succeeded in curbing the growth of the obesity epidemic, continued progress demands a coordinated interdisciplinary approach. Mizzou is uniquely poised to become a model for universities to focus their range of resources on a central problem in society. To synergize these individual strengths to focus on obesity we need:
In short we need the financial “glue” to hold these pieces together to make a stronger more effective battlefront. SOLVING THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC FROM PIPETTE TO PATIENT TO POPULATION TO POLICY Key components of the Consortium will be:
No other entity in the State of Missouri can achieve success in the battle on obesity better than Mizzou. These seven components will allow bench research to lead to translational research findings that will in turn coordinate with patient and population intervention to promote healthier lives for Missourians. By attacking obesity from the scientific, media, and public policy fronts, we will finally make headway on what may be one of the most costly health epidemics of our generation. This coordinated approach will serve as a model by which universities nationwide can utilize their unique resources and expertise to solve real world problems and hence improve the physical and economic health of the population. In order for Mizzou to carry out its public health mission to combat obesity, funds are needed to make these Centers a permanent part of the university’s infrastructure to assure that the bridges among disciplines remain open and to establish new cores as expertise reaches critical mass on campus. How To Help For More Information on Mizzou For You:
|
|
|
Copyright © 2007 — Curators of
the University of Missouri. All rights
reserved. DMCA
and other copyright information.
External sites are not endorsed by the University of Missouri. last updated 08/27/08 Friday |
||
