Chronic diseases (those of long duration and generally slow progression, as defined by the World Health Organization) are by far the leading cause of death in the world, representing 63% of all annual deaths.1 In particular, four health risk behaviors—lack of physical activity, poor nutrition, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol consumption—are responsible for much of the illness, suffering, and early death attributed to chronic diseases.2 These four health risk behaviors can lead to costly diseases such as stroke, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease. However, through effective education and interventions, these health risk behaviors can be mitigated.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has initiated an effort to achieve measurable impact quickly in select, targeted areas, such as chronic diseases. CDC's Winnable Battles are public health priorities with large-scale impact on health and with known, effective strategies to address them. The public health community can make significant progress in reducing health disparities and the overall health burden from these diseases and conditions in a relatively short timeframe – generally within one to four years – by identifying priority strategies and clear targets.3 CDC has identified the following health risk behaviors as Winnable Battles: proper nutrition/physical activity and tobacco use (read about additional Winnable Battles on the CDC site).
TRAIN, the nation’s premier learning management system for professionals and volunteers who protect the public’s health, offers local, state, and national trainings that public health professionals can utilize in fighting poor nutrition, lack of physical activity, and tobacco use. A selection of trainings available on TRAIN on these topics include:
The Public Health Foundation (PHF) has partnered with CDC to build awareness and knowledge of CDC’s Winnable Battles by offering resources and tools that can be used by public health professionals to build capacity. PHF has added new resources to the PHF Online Bookstore that can assist state, tribal, local and territorial health departments in educating their patients and constituents with fighting the Winnable Battles. New titles include 10 Good Reason Not to Be a Teenage Parent, I’m Not Ready To Have A Baby Because…, 30 Easy Ways to Eat Healthier, HIV Essentials, and 100 Questions & Answers About How to Quit Smoking. Additionally, The Guide to Community Preventive Services (The Community Guide) offers evidence-based findings and recommendations from the Task Force on Community Preventive Services. The Community Guide is a free resource to help individuals choose programs and policies to improve health and prevent disease in their community. Systematic reviews are used to answer questions, such as:
- Which program and policy interventions have been proven effective?
- Are there effective interventions that are right for my community?
- What might effective interventions cost; what is the likely return on investment?
For more information on chronic diseases,
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