Community Health 189: Advanced Health Policy - Politics of Food and Fat

Access to high quality data improves understanding of a community’s health status and determinants, and facilitates the prioritization of interventions.

MassCHIP provides access to 36 health status, health outcome, program utilization, and demographic data sets, from which you can generate two types of reports, 1) Instant Topics (formerly standard reports) and 2) Custom Reports, as well as charts and maps. Instant Topics are predefined reports which use MassCHIP's most current data to supply information on a variety of topic areas for specific geographies.

Alerts readers to new grey literature publications in health services research and selected public health topics.

The leading organization for advocacy and education on obesity, AOA monitors federal agencies and changes in congressional laws affecting the lives of persons with obesity. See Tax Breaks for information on IRS Ruling 2002-19 , in which obesity is now accepted as a disease and expenses incurred for the diagnosis and treatment of obesity may qualify as expenses for medical care subject to the limitations of the ruling.

The IOTF is a "think tank and advocacy [organization]. .... working to alert the world to the growing health crisis threatened by soaring levels of obesity." Website includes data and links to material on obesity and specific issues related to obesity, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Also includes news, such as a 2008 initiative to control marketing of junk food to children. From the International Association for the Study of Obesity.

The National Poverty Center is charged with promoting high-quality research on the causes and consequences of poverty, evaluating and analyzing policies to alleviate poverty, and training the next generation of poverty researchers.

This site provides the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's definitions of obesity and its guidelines and recommendations for "finding solutions to the problem of obesity and overweight." Features statistics on obesity trends, links to state-specific information, and sections on the health and economic consequences of obesity.

The Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity is a non-profit research and public policy organization devoted to improving the world’s diet, preventing obesity, and reducing weight stigma.