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Publications of Interest
  • Start Smart: Healthy Weight in Early Childhood
    March 13, 2013
    In October 2012 GIH convened a group of grantmakers, researchers, and practitioners for the Issue Dialogue Start Smart: Healthy Weight in Early Childhood. This Issue Brief synthesizes key points from the day’s discussion with a background paper previously prepared for Issue Dialogue participants.
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  • Partnering with the Private Sector to Achieve Total Health
    December 17, 2012
    By Raymond J. Baxter, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Community Benefit, Research and Health Policy, Kaiser Permanente, and President, Kaiser Permanente International
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  • Using Media to Fight Obesity
    November 19, 2012
    Efforts to market foods of minimal nutritional value are believed to have significantly exacerbated the obesity epidemic. This Issue Focus describes research regarding anti-obesity media messaging and provides examples of campaigns that are providing reliable, healthful information to counteract such marketing.
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  • Too Few Choices, Too Much Junk: Connecting Food and Health
    March 7, 2012
    GIH convened a group of grantmakers, researchers, and practitioners for an Issue Dialogue discussing the intersection of food and health. The program focused on the current U.S. food system and approaches that foundations can employ to improve food access and nutrition. This Issue Brief incorporates the background paper written for this meeting, as well as key points from the day's discussion.
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  • Disparities in Food Access and in Opportunities for Physical Activity
    September 19, 2011
    By Allison F. Bauer, JD, MSW, Senior Program Officer, The Boston Foundation
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  • Myths and Facts about Complementary and Alternative Medicine
    July 15, 2011
    The world of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) may seem mystifying to funders. In this era of health reform – with a renewed emphasis on prevention and wellness – it may be the perfect time for philanthropy to explore its opportunities.
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  • Creating Common Ground: Working Together for Food Systems Change
    May 23, 2011
    By Virginia Clarke, Coordinator, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders
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  • Back to Basics: Promoting Healthy School Food
    December 20, 2010
    With support from the Colorado Health Foundation, GIH convened the strategy session and site visit Back to Basics: Promoting Healthy School Food. This brief paper highlights some key issues that set the stage for the meeting and outlines main aspects of the discussion.
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  • Ingredients for a Healthy School Lunch Movement
    November 12, 2010
    By Hillary Fulton, Program Officer, Colorado Health Foundation
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  • Back to the Beginning: Obesity Prevention in Early Childhood
    May 14, 2010
    Recent efforts in the field of child obesity prevention have placed emphasis on the school-age population, and with good reason. Schools present a unique opportunity to reach large groups of children on a regular basis with healthy foods and physical activity. However, about 10 percent of children come to kindergarten already obese, indicating that more attention needs to focus on the period of life before school.
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  • The Importance (and Challenge) of Reaching Obese Adults
    October 27, 2009
    Over the past year, adult obesity rates continued to rise in the United States, resulting in an urgent need to lower rates. But much of what got us here will take years of extensive effort to reverse.
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  • Reversing the Obesity Epidemic: Policy Strategies for Health Funders
    February 22, 2007
    This report presents the rationale for using policy approaches to change food and physical activity environments.  The report highlights the efforts of health funders supporting policy change in schools, food systems and sustainable agriculture, the built environment, and across communities.  It also briefly examines trends and opportunities in health systems, workplaces, and state programs, and concludes with a discussion of challenges and opportunities for moving forward
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  • Pathways to Community Health: Funders Supporting Biking and Walking Trails to Promote Physical Activity
    December 1, 2006
    Currently, more than half of U.S. adults do not engage in enough physical activity to provide health benefits, and one in four is not active at all during leisure time. Walking, riding bikes, and playing outside are not options when neighborhoods and parks are unsafe or if there are no sidewalks or bike trails.
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  • Innovations in the Prevention and Treatment of Diabetes
    February 17, 2006
    One of the most deadly and disabling consequences of America's obesity epidemic is the precipitous increase of individuals suffering from diabetes. According to estimates by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), approximately 4,110 people are diagnosed with diabetes each day, with 1.5 million new cases diagnosed in 2005. The ADA predicts that one in three Americans born in 2000 will develop diabetes during their lifetime. These stunning projections, coupled with the serious complications and high health care costs associated with the disease, have spurred action to improve the prevention and treatment of diabetes. Some grantmakers are at the forefront of efforts to meet the needs of people at risk or already diagnosed with diabetes, and to lead transformations in how the U.S. health system prevents and treats this disease.
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  • Selling Healthy Lifestyles: Using Social Marketing to Promote Change and Prevent Disease
    November 8, 2004
    As a behavior change technique, social marketing has proven effective in motivating people to make the complex and difficult behavior changes that can improve health and reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. This Issue Brief uses the lens of tobacco prevention and cessation, physical activity, and healthy eating to examine how health grantmakers can use social marketing principles and techniques to encourage and support the adoption of healthier behaviors across the lifespan.
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  • Selling Healthy Lifestyles: Using Social Marketing to Promote Change and Prevent Disease
    June 7, 2004

    Social marketing is increasingly being applied to the promotion of healthier behaviors and the prevention of chronic diseases. This 2 page Issue Focus describes how grantmakers can use social marketing techniques to help people quit smoking or never start, eat a healthier diet, and get more exercise.
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  • Healthy Behaviors: Addressing Chronic Disease at Its Roots
    February 23, 2004

    Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, lung disease, stroke, and diabetes are among the most serious threats to the nation's health.  This Issue Brief explores the contribution of specific behaviors to the development of chronic diseases and discusses how research on tobacco control can guide grantmakers interested in designing comprehensive strategies that help people adopt healthy behaviors and create environments that help people be successful in their efforts to live healthier lives.
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  • Healthy Behaviors: Addressing Chronic Disease at Its Roots
    September 22, 2003

    The development and progression of many chronic diseases are linked to unhealthy behaviors, particularly cigarette smoking and use of other tobacco products, poor diet, and lack of regular exercise. This Issue Focus highlights the many ways that health grantmakers across the country are mobilizing communities, employers, schools, families, and individuals to move toward healthier behaviors.
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  • The Nation's Leading Health Indicators: Measuring Progress, Taking Action
    April 15, 2003
    This resource portfolio provides profiles on each of the nation's leading health indicators, as well as an overview highlighting GIH resources on this topic.
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  • Weighing in on Obesity: America's Growing Health Epidemic
    February 22, 2002
    The country is facing double threats:  a dramatic increase in rates of overweight and obesity among children and adults, and an accompanying increase in diabetes and other conditions that threaten the lives and health of the nation's population.  This Issue Brief helps health grantmakers understand the nature of today's epidemic and explore ways they can play a role in identifying and promoting effective prevention and intervention strategies, including tackling the root causes of the problem.
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