Contact: Rachel Novotny, 808-683-9798 Professor, Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Science
Contact: Frederika Bain , 808-956-3092 Writer and editor, Office of Communication Services
The University of Hawai’i News Release Article can be found here.
The Children’s Healthy Living (CHL) Program for Remote Underserved Minority Populations in the Pacific Region, headed by Dr. Rachel Novotny, was awarded a competitive grant of $25 million over 5 years in 2011 to monitor, develop and test multiple and varied community-based approaches to decrease the level of childhood obesity and diabetes-related disease in the US Pacific region, and to provide training and other outreach. CHL successfully decreased the prevalence of obesity in the region and now has been awarded a Center of Excellence designation and an additional $2.126 million through 2021 to continue this successful program.
The project partners with local communities in Hawai‘i, Alaska, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. These are regions that are not surveyed by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in its national program to monitor health and nutrition, and thus limited measured data existed about them prior to the program’s inception. However, what data there were suggested that Pacific jurisdictions are some of the most obese countries in the world, and that the problem is growing amongst the children as well as the adults in these regions. Undernutrition also remains a problem in some of these areas, the other face of what is described as the dual burden of malnutrition.
Through a community randomized trial involving measurements of children, households, communities and jurisdictions, the program confirmed this understanding, and through community-based partnership, it is working to reverse this trend. CHL addresses priority areas of food safety, nutrition, and health; agricultural systems and technology; and agricultural economics and rural communities. It supports long-range improvement in and sustainability of agriculture and food systems at the same time that it aims to increase the number of educators, practitioners, and researchers who receive the training and effectively model behaviors necessary to address the complex problem of childhood obesity prevention.
The methods by which the team encourages children to become healthier range from promoting local foods, including produce from students’ own school gardens, to creating environments for active play. Traditional foods, sports, and activities are supported, integrating elements from both traditional and modern global cultures that enhance health. Since the program is designed to be self-extending and integrated into its target communities, it included a provision for undergraduate and graduate scholarships, allowing students to earn degrees and use their training in their home communities.
In its new phase, CHL’s goal is to serve as a Center of Excellence to further build capacity and generate new knowledge on child health in its partnering communities. It will continue to monitor and disseminate evidence concerning the behaviors and environments related to Pacific child obesity and to enhance health literacy and reduce health disparities in program and policy guidance to prevent child obesity and reduction in health disparities.
Dr. Novotny, a professor in the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Studies and former Interim Dean of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, said, on behalf of the CHL family across the region, “We look forward to continuing to expand our network to fundamentally change policies, systems and environments to ensure child wellness, together.”