OBESITY IN MISSISSIPPI

SEEKING ACTIONEach of Mississippi’s state agencies assigned to the POWER projecttask force by Governor Haley Barbour have already committed to makinga stand against childhood obesity. Each agency is developing action plansoutlining their support and identifying the ways they will collectivelyaddress the ten policy priorities agreed upon by the stakeholders at theHealthy Mississippi Summit.The following pages contain the action plans that have been submittedto date and represent only a portion of the actions being taken by all stateagencies to prevent childhood obesity. Often by simply continuing theircurrent ongoing projects and directing their existing resources toward acommon goal, a diverse web of support is created through the collaborationof agencies. This support system forms a strong foundation to be furtherbuilt upon, guaranteeing success. Through teamwork, the commitments aremanageable, reasonable, and most importantly, effective when coordinatedwithin the POWER project.When planned and coordinated together, individual efforts will effectivelyisolate and surround each issue, tackling it from all sides at once, havinga lasting life-saving impression on Mississippi.39