WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced $31 million for awards to 10 communities in eight states and one award to a state health department to support public health efforts to reduce obesity and smoking, increase physical activity and improve nutrition.
The awards funded by the Prevention and Public Health Fund included in the Affordable Care Act are part of the HHS Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) program, a comprehensive prevention and wellness initiative administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“To realize our goals of improving the health of Americans and lowering our nation’s health care costs, we must address the underlying factors that influence our families’ health—factors like the foods we eat and the conditions that exist in our homes, neighborhoods and workplaces,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “With Communities Putting Prevention to Work, we’re creating evidence-based models that we can replicate on a large scale to permanently reduce the chronic diseases plaguing so many of our communities.”
These Communities Putting Prevention to Work awards will provide communities with the resources to create healthy choices for residents, such as increasing availability of healthy foods and beverages, improving access to safe places for physical activity, discouraging tobacco use, and encouraging smoke-free environments. Of the 11 new awards, ten are dedicated to obesity prevention efforts and one to tobacco cessation.
Currently, seven of 10 deaths among Americans each year are caused by chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes. These same chronic diseases account for more than 75 percent of our nation’s healthcare spending.
To view a detailed listing of grant awardees, visit: www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/recovery/community-awards.htm
