Beyond Health Care: New Directions to a Healthier America: Recommendations From the RWJF Commission to Build A Healthier America

Publication Date: April 2009

Publisher: RWJF Commission to Build a Healthier America

Author(s):

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America issued 10 cross-cutting recommendations for improving the nation’s health. According to the Commission, how long and how well Americans live depend more on where we live, learn, work and play than on medical care, which accounts for only an estimated 10 to 15 percent of preventable early deaths.

The RWJF Commission is a national, independent and nonpartisan group comprising innovators and leaders with a rich diversity of experience and depth of knowledge. The Commission’s charge was to focus on factors beyond medical care to identify practical and innovative strategies for improving the nation’s health. Commissioners studied and debated several options and crafted recommendations that:

* address the Commission’s charge to identify interventions beyond the health care system that can produce substantial health effects;
* are likely to achieve a significant positive impact on Americans’ health;
* address the needs of those who are most at risk or most vulnerable;
* are feasible and achievable in the current economic environment; and
* are supported by a strong knowledge base.

The Commission found the strongest evidence for interventions that can have a lasting effect on the quality of health and life in programs that promote early childhood development and that support children and families. Therefore, many of the recommendations aim to ensure that the nation's children have the best start in life and health.

Among the Commission’s key recommendations are:

* Give kids a healthy start. Ensure that all children, especially very young children in low-income families, have high-quality education and child care. This means increasing federal government spending to support early childhood development for young children in low-income families. This recommendation is critical, because evidence is now very strong that early childhood has a tremendous impact on a person’s health across a lifetime.
* Ban junk food from schools. Feed children only nutritious foods in schools. Federal funds should be used exclusively for healthful meals.
* Get kids moving. All schools (K-12) should include at least 30 minutes every day for all children to be physically active. Although children should be active at least one hour each day, only one third of high school students currently meet this goal.
* Help all families follow healthy diets. More than one in every 10 American households lack reliable access to enough nutritious food. Federal supplemental nutrition programs should be fully funded and designed to meet the needs of hungry families with nutritious food.
* Eliminate so-called nutrition deserts. Create public-private partnerships to open grocery stores in communities without access to healthful foods. Many inner-city and rural families lack this access; for example, Detroit, a city of 139 square miles, has just five full-service grocery stores.