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Board
of Health Policy Goals and Priority Work Projects
Goal 4: Encourage healthy behaviors
Children's Health
and Well Being Committee: David Crump,
Mel Tonasket
Lead Staff:
Tara Wolff
NOTE: The
Children's Health and Well Being Committee agreed to take responsibility for
the broader goal of encouraging healthy behaviors, although much of its work
under this goal continues to focus on children's health.
Children’s health and well being has been a priority
policy area for the Board since 2000. In 2007, the Board adopted a
five-year strategic plan. Policy projects affecting the health and
well-being of children are reflected in many of the strategic plan’s
five goal areas:
1.
Strengthen the public health system.
2.
Increase access to preventive services.
3.
Reduce health disparities.
4.
Encourage healthy behaviors.
5.
Promote healthy and save environments.
For instance, the Board is working to increase
preventive health services for children by working to ensure that more
children have medical homes and that private insurance companies offer a
wide array of preventive services for children. These activities and others
are designed to help assure access to critical health services (goal 2
above). You can review the Board’s five-year
strategic
plan to see more examples of how children’s health and well-being is
incorporated into the Board’s five main goals.
The Board's
2007 Strategic Plan
identifies two objectives under the goal of encouraging healthy
behaviors:
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Community
Forums: Food, Fitness, and Our Kids
In response to the growing childhood obesity epidemic in
our state, the Board convened a number of organizations including the
Washington State School Directors' Association, the Department of Health, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction,
the University of Washington Center for Public Health Nutrition, the Washington State Parent
Teacher Association, the Washington School Food Service Association, and
local health jurisdictions in three counties (Benton-Franklin,
Clark, and Island) to organize a series of
community meetings. These meetings provided an opportunity to
discuss the far-reaching consequences of children’s inactivity and poor
nutrition and share ways schools can help address this serious problem. Practical
resources and information regarding these community meetings can be
found online.
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Each Student Successful Summit: Exploring policies to address health
disparities and the academic achievement gap
On May 18, the Board co-hosted a day long summit on health disparities and
the academic achievement gap. Research has shown that the same students who
are disproportionately affected by the academic achievement gap are also
adversely affected by health disparities. This event brought together policy
makers, educators, public health professionals, parents, students, families,
and advocates to discuss policy and system changes needed to promote good
health and narrow the academic achievement gap.
More information.
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Immunization Advisory Committee
It is the purpose of the
Immunization Advisory Committee
(IAC)
to provide recommendations to the Board on
criteria to determine which vaccines should be required for child care center
and/or school entry.
Many new vaccines for children and young adults are
expected to be available over the next few years. A number of these vaccines
will end up on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
Recommended Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedule. The board
will face complex decisions about which vaccines to include in the child
care/school immunization rule (WAC 246-100-166). Factors other than those
considered by the ACIP will need to be considered to address the unique
needs of our state. The Board believes that approaching this decision using
rational criteria is the best method for protecting children and the
community at large while balancing the interests of parents and families.
The IAC met three times to develop the recommendations.
In addition, between the second and third meeting of the IAC a Technical
Advisory Group (TAG) further refined the criteria and tested them against
the pertussis antigen. The TAG comprised representatives from the fields of
public health, primary care, epidemiology, and medical ethics. The IAC
reviewed and further refined the TAG’s work at its final meeting in March
2006. These criteria were presented to the SBOH at the April 12, 2006
meeting. The board adopted the report as an interim report and asked that
the TAG be re-convened to further refine the criteria and to test them
against three antigens (pertussis, tetanus, and diphtheria). The TAG met on
May 17, 2006. The results of the TAG deliberations were presented to and
adopted by the board on June 14, 2006.
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Newborn Screening Advisory Committee
On September 24, 2007, an advisory committee met to
review the conditions set forth in the American College of Medical Genetics’
report that are currently not included in Chapter 246-650 WAC against the
Board’s five criteria for evaluating new disorders. The Advisory Committee
is charged with producing recommendations on additional conditions that
might be included in Chapter 246-650 WAC. This report will be presented to
the State Board of Health in December of 2007.
Details about this
meeting and reference materials are available.
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