Advocating for Policy Change

Promoting Healthy Weight

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital has always been active in advocating for public policies that benefit children and families, whether locally, in Sacramento, or in Washington, DC. The Center for Healthy Weight’s Advocacy and Public Policy Program supports and promotes changes that will make it easier for children and families to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

The program focuses on:

  • Making healthy lunches and snacks available in schools
  • Ensuring access to healthy foods in all communities
  • Providing opportunities for safe and supervised physical activity at school, after school, on weekends and during summers
  • Ensuring access to appropriate medical and nutritional preventive care and treatment

Our Center for Healthy Weight faculty and staff also frequently serve as officers, committee members or consultants to develop and implement child and adolescent obesity-related policy initiatives for:

  • Local coalitions and community organizations in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties
  • National scientific or professional organizations
    • American Academy of Pediatrics
    • Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences
  • Government panels and committees
    • National Institutes of Health
    • U.S. Department of Agriculture
  • Institutional advocacy through Stanford University and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and their affiliations with state and national organizations
    • National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI)

We also work to develop:

  • Medical student, house officer, faculty and community physician advocacy training
  • Development of advocacy projects for school-aged children and adolescents
  • Advocacy training and projects for parents, teachers and child care professionals

The Center for Healthy Weight tracks and supports current state and national legislation (PDF) related to these initiatives. Please click here for the Center for Healthy Weight Policy Resource List (PDF).

Pediatric Advocacy Program

The Pediatric Advocacy Program is a partnership between the Stanford University School of Medicine and local communities to improve the health and well-being of children in the Silicon Valley. Pediatric medical residents, medical students and undergraduates work with community partners to address community needs through education, service and research. Many of these projects focus on the prevention of childhood obesity. Please visit https://med.stanford.edu/genpeds/advocacy-community-engagement for more information.