Water consumption is important for students' cognition, dental health, and physical health. The availability and promotion of free water during the school day has been shown to increase water consumption and may prevent school children from being overweight. This brief highlights areas where local school wellness policies (i.e., wellness…

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…

School districts have taken a variety of steps to encourage PE and PA among their students. The sections of this brief highlight areas where policy opportunities exist, as well as areas where policies are well-established relative to PE and PA. This brief summarizes the range of policy actions taken by public school districts, including reports…

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…

Local school wellness policies (i.e., wellness policies) include suggestions and requirements to promote health. Some school districts include weight status measurement in their wellness policies for surveillance and/or screening. Surveillance monitors the percentage of students who are overweight or obese. Screening provides parents with…

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…

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 Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) annually publishes an immunization schedule for persons aged 0 through 18 years that summarizes recommendations for currently licensed vaccines for children aged 18 years and younger and includes recommendations in effect as of December 15, 2009. The changes to the previous schedule are…

America has a serious weight problem. Two-thirds of adults and nearly one-fifth of children in the United States are overweight, placing them at greater risk for heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases including cancer and arthritis. Furthermore, obesity and its related health problems are placing a major strain on the U.S. health care…

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…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reviews scientific evidence to determine which school-based policies and practices are most likely to improve key health behaviors among young people, including physical activity and healthy eating. In this document, the CDC identifies ten strategies to help schools prevent obesity by promoting…