URP Awarded Grant for a National Childhood Obesity Prevention GIS

July 28, 2009
This past February several faculty members of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning began work on a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to plan a Childhood Obesity Prevention Geographic Information System. The RWJF endeavors to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015 by improving access to affordable, healthy foods and increasing opportunities for physical activity in schools and communities across the nation. The GIS will serve as an essential tool in the Foundation’s three-pronged strategy of evidence, action and advocacy to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic.

The alarming growth in the rate of childhood obesity over the past several years and its deleterious effects on the physical well-being of children are now widely acknowledged. Approximately 26 to 37 percent of U.S. children and adolescents are obese or overweight and at risk of becoming obese. Overweight and obesity are especially dangerous for children, as left uncorrected the condition leads in adulthood to biochemical or clinical cardiovascular complications. We now understand that childhood obesity likely arises from a complex combination of factors which includes genetics, physical activity levels, diet, socioeconomic status, and environmental and community aspects. Central to identifying relationships between these factors and childhood obesity is the concept of location. Geographic location is of critical importance in understanding patterns within and among datasets. GIS presents a method for documenting data along with its location, and thus assists in comprehending the spatial aspect of childhood obesity and its risk factors. It is also a powerful visualization tool for use in evidence-based advocacy efforts.

The GeoPlan Center and the Center for Health and the Built Environment in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning partnered with the Maternal Child Health Education and Research and Data Center (MCHERDC) in the Department of Pediatrics in the College of Medicine in the strategic planning process for developing a comprehensive analysis and plan for the GIS. Drs. Ilir Bejleri and Ruth Steiner of the URP Department are working with Drs. Nancy Hardt and Jeffrey Roth of MCHERDC to lead the effort. Other URP faculty and staff involved in the project include Dr. Zhong-Ren Peng, Stanley Latimer, and graduate research assistant Allison Fischman. Also involved are Dr. Anne Mathews of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition and health economist Dr. Jeffrey Harman. The project team brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the project in the areas of GIS, public health, pediatrics, the built environment, health and urban economics, nutrition and physical activity.

Key elements of the planning process include the development of a theoretical framework to address how such a GIS might be used and its potential for use as a tool in reversing the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015, an environmental scan of existing GIS database systems and childhood obesity-related datasets, a detailed framework to address the technical and structural aspects of the GIS including its appeal to the needs of a range of users and technologies, and a cost-benefit analysis to consider both the cost structures of the GIS itself as well as the long-term costs associated with childhood obesity and the potential for the GIS to reduce this cost.

This project represents one of several undertakings of the Center for Health and the Built Environment, directed by Dr. Ruth Steiner.
For more information on the RWJF’s strategy to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic, visit its website.

By Allison Fischman