The Missouri Council for Activity & Nutrition (MoCAN)

Missouri Establishes Plan to Address Overweight and Obesity

The Missouri Council on the Prevention and Management of Overweight and Obesity was created in 2003 to enable representatives of various organizations to develop a comprehensive plan to address the epidemic of overweight and obesity in Missouri. The mission of the Council is to document the economic impact and health implications of overweight and obesity for all Missouri families, regardless of income, and to the degree feasible, to recommend evidence- or research-based responses that can be undertaken by employers, schools, insurers, elected officials, individuals, families, communities, and state and local government.

The Council completed a state plan to prevent and manage overweight and obesity in Missouri in 2005.   http://www.dhss.mo.gov/Obesity/ObesityBurdenWebversion.pdf

Three major beliefs guide Missouri’s plan:

• A balance between nutrition and physical activity efforts is required to prevent and control obesity.
• Science-based approaches must be used to improve nutrition and increase physical activity.
• For approaches to be effective, many levels of influence must support the changes being implemented.

Vision

Missourians will make healthy food choices and be physically active.

Guiding Principles

Goals and Strategies

• Increasing opportunities to adopt physical activity and nutritional habits that promote good health for the following:

  Schools and child care facilities
  Workplaces
  Families
  Communities

• Increase the effectiveness of messages that result in public improving nutritional habits and physical activity.
• Increase support for health care systems to promote physical activity and nutritional habits that prevent and control obesity and chronic diseases.
• Increase state-level public policies that promote physical activity and nutritional habits to prevent obesity and chronic disease.

Implementation driven by Missouri Council on Activity and Nutrition (MoCAN)

Governor Blunt formally kicked off the state plan in July 2005, Preventing Obesity and Other Chronic Diseases—Missouri’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Plan as the “Healthy Missourians Initiative.”  Upon completion of the plan the Missouri Council on the Prevention and Management of Overweight and Obesity was officially disbanded, and an implementation council was formed.  Representatives from groups interested in implementing the plan were invited to participate and they collectively chose the name—the Missouri Council on Activity and Nutrition (MoCAN) for their group.  Currently meetings are held 2-3 times per year to implement work plans to achieve the plan’s objectives, track on outcomes and evaluate which efforts are most effective.

The following work groups are currently in place:

Schools and childcare
Worksites
Communities and Families
Messages
Healthcare
State Policy

Organizations Represented on the Council: