Good nutrition is vital to optimal health. The school environment plays a fundamental role in shaping lifelong healthy behaviors and can have a powerful influence on students' eating habits. A supportive school nutrition environment includes multiple elements: access to healthy and appealing foods and beverages available to students in school…

Food and beverage marketing often appears throughout schools in the form of posters, vending machine fronts, in-school television advertisements, school newspapers, textbook covers, sports equipment, and scoreboards. Many foods marketed in schools are of poor nutritional quality. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute of…

Children and adolescents are establishing patterns of behavior that affect both their current and future health. Young people are at risk for engaging in tobacco, alcohol, or other drug use, participating in violence or gang activities, and initiating sex at an early age. However, a growing body of research demonstrates that enhancing protective…

The "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report" ("MMWR") Series is prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Data presented by the Notifiable Disease Data Team and 122 Cities Mortality Data Team in the weekly "MMWR" are provisional, based on weekly reports to CDC by state health departments. This issue of "Morbidity and…

The "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report" ("MMWR") Series is prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Data presented by the Notifiable Disease Data Team and 122 Cities Mortality Data Team in the weekly "MMWR" are provisional, based on weekly reports to CDC by state health departments. This issue of "Morbidity and…

Schools play a critical role in improving the dietary and physical activity behaviors of students. Schools can create an environment supportive of students' efforts to eat healthily and be active by implementing policies and practices that support healthy eating and regular physical activity and by providing opportunities for students to learn…

During the last 3 decades, the prevalence of obesity has tripled among persons aged 6-19 years. Multiple chronic disease risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and high blood glucose levels are related to obesity. Schools have a responsibility to help prevent obesity and promote physical activity and healthy eating…

The purpose of "Preparing for the Flu: A Communication Toolkit for Schools" is to provide basic information and communication resources to help school administrators implement recommendations from CDC's (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Guidance for State and Local Public Health Officials and School Administrators for School (K-12)…

This Technical Report includes detailed information on the reasons for the strategies presented in the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) "Guidance for School (K-12) Responses to Influenza During the 2009-2010 School Year" and suggestions on how to use them. The guidance is designed to decrease exposure to regular seasonal flu and 2009 H1N1 flu…

This document provides guidance to help decrease the spread of flu among students and school staff during the 2009-2010 school year. This document expands upon earlier school guidance documents by providing a menu of tools that school and health officials can choose from based on conditions in their area. It recommends actions to take this school…

Efforts to improve child and adolescent health typically have featured interventions designed to address specific health risk behaviors, such as tobacco use, alcohol and drug use, violence, gang involvement, and early sexual initiation. However, results from a growing number of studies suggest that greater health impact might be achieved by also…

Students feel more connected to their school when they believe that the adults and other students at school not only care about how well they are learning, but also care about them as individuals. Young people who feel connected to school are more likely to succeed academically and make healthy choices. All school staff, including teachers,…

Parents want their child to do well in school. They also want their child to be healthy and avoid behaviors that are risky or harmful. Through their guidance and support, parents can have great influence on their child's health and learning. But they also have important allies in this effort--the caring adults in their child's school. Research…

Local educational agencies (LEAs) play an integral role in protecting the health and safety of their district's staff, students and their families. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed this checklist to assist LEAs in developing and/or improving plans to prepare…

Six priority health risk behaviors contribute to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems in the United States. These behaviors are often established during childhood and adolescence. They include tobacco use; unhealthy dietary behaviors; inadequate physical activity; alcohol and other drug use; sexual behaviors that may result…