HealthyEaters.org is considering conference venues around the world for their community kick off event in early 2013.
Because the organization is focusing on reversing childhood obesity in the United States, there is a good chance that the kick off event would be held in New York or Los Angeles, or perhaps it could be a series of kick off events around the world.
Other locations being considered are conference venues London, Paris, Sevilla, Moscow, Kiev, Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, Berlin, Amsterdam, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, Cancun, Costa Rica, Fiji and more.
As you probably know, childhood obesity and resulting health issues are at a epidemic proportion. From the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention:
- Approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years (in the US) are obese.
- Since 1980, obesity prevalence among children and adolescents (in the US) has almost tripled.
- There are significant racial and ethnic disparities in obesity prevalence among U.S. children and adolescents. In 2007—2008, Hispanic boys, aged 2 to 19 years,were significantly more likely to be obese than non-Hispanic white boys, and non-Hispanic black girls were significantly more likely to be obese than non-Hispanic white girls. (I need someone to explain this to me and help come up with some solid solutions.).
If you and/or your organization are interested in attending and/or taking part in the planning of the launch of HealthyEaters.org, we would love to hear from you. We’re very curious as to where in the world you think we should hold a world class conference on a very real challenge we need to work together to overcome.
We cannot let the United States bury itself with forks …