The CHOICES Learning Collaborative Partnership aims to build capacity among state and local decision-makers to choose and implement cost-effective obesity prevention strategies.
Reducing childhood obesity rates in the U.S. will require well implemented, cost-effective interventions across multiple sectors at national, state, and local levels. During the first year of the collaborative, CHOICES partnered with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and health agencies in three states—WA, WV, and MS. In this second year, CHOICES has continued to partner with ASTHO and is now joined by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), as well as four state health agencies—the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, the Oklahoma State Department of Public Health, and a local health agency, the City of Philadelphia Department of Public Health. Each agency will apply cost-effectiveness analysis to assess current or proposed obesity prevention strategies in their communities.
The program provides a series of collaborative sessions hosted by CHOICES in partnership with ASTHO and NACCHO that will give decision-makers the training and tools necessary to apply cost-effectiveness analysis to interventions of their choice. Along with identifying or collecting data relevant to these interventions, the health agencies will also share tools, resources, and best practices with local partners throughout the process. The CHOICES team provides technical assistance in evaluating each intervention’s effectiveness, implementation cost, cost-effectiveness, and impact on obesity rates, population health, and health disparities.
Though the strategies analyzed and developed may differ from place to place, the partners share the common goal of ensuring more children have healthier years ahead by investing in cost-effective obesity interventions. The partnership aims to build each site’s capacity to apply CHOICES Project tools and processes—both now and in the future—to inform decision making, strategic planning, and tactical intervention implementation.