State and Local Strategies
More than half of all Americans live with at least one chronic disease such as obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Significant chronic disease risk factors include poor nutrition and inadequate physical activity. Chronic diseases are leading causes of death and disability, and they increase healthcare costs and lower worker productivity.
Priority Strategies
Priority actions that states and communities can take to reduce the risk of chronic disease for people they serve are below. Follow the “Read More” links for background information, key definitions, potential activities, key resources, and examples of what others are doing.
Make physical activity safe and accessible for all.
Implement policies and activities to connect pedestrian, bicycle, or transit transportation networks to everyday destinations.
Make healthy food choices easier everywhere.
Implement policies and activities that promote food service and nutrition guidelines and associated healthy food procurement in facilities, programs, or organizations where food is sold, served, and distributed.
Coordinate the uptake of and expansion of existing voucher incentive and produce prescription programs.
Make breastfeeding easier to start and continue.
Implement policies and activities that achieve continuity of care for those who breastfeed.
Strengthen obesity prevention standards for early care and education (ECE) settings.
Implement policies and practices that improve nutrition, physical activity, and breastfeeding in ECE settings.
Increase number of and access to family healthy weight programs.
Establish policies and activities that implement, spread, and sustain Family Healthy Weight Programs.
