School-based interventions: civil society organisations
The American Heart Association has grown into the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer worldwide, and stroke ranks second globally. Even when those conditions don’t result in death, they cause disability and diminish quality of life. We want to see a world free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
Policy extract: The AHA supports measures that restrict food advertising and marketing to children including, but not limited to allowing only healthy foods to be marketed and advertised to children, discouraging the product placement of food brands in multiple media technologies, eliminating the use of toys in unhealthy kids’ restaurant meals, using licensed characters on only healthy foods, and not allowing unhealthy food and beverage advertising and marketing in schools, on school buses, or on educational materials. The intended effect of advocating for these positions is two-fold: to improve children’s dietary behaviours by reducing the consumption of low-nutrient, high-calorie foods, while promoting consumption of healthy food and beverages. See more.
Policy extract: The American Heart Association has joined with the William J Clinton Foundation to form the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. Among the Alliance’s initiatives is a Healthy Schools Programme that aims to recognise schools for their health promoting policies and practices. See more.
Policy extract: The American Heart Association advocates for strong obesity prevention programmes in early childhood education settings. One such setting, child care, is an important environment for forming good health habits around children’s dietary intake, physical activity, and energy balance, thus combating the childhood obesity epidemic. See more.
Policy extract: Physical education in the nation’s schools is an important part of a students’ comprehensive, well-rounded education program and a means of positively affecting life-long health and well-being. At a minimum, the physical education programme should provide physical activity to enhance current health while teaching knowledge and skills that foster a long-term commitment to physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle that will help children prevent numerous conditions, including abnormal cholesterol, high blood pressure, hyperglycaemia, obesity, and ultimately heart disease as well as a host of other non-communicable diseases and mental health problems. See more.
Alliance for a Healthier Generation
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation empowers kids to develop lifelong healthy habits, by ensuring the environments that surround them provide and promote good health. More than 25 million children have been helped by the Alliance’s work with schools, communities and businesses across the country.
Policy extract: This resource is a supplement to “State ESSA Plans to Support Student Health and Wellness: A Framework for Action.” This supplement provides more detailed recommendations for supporting nutrition and physical activity during the school day through ESSA implementation. See more.
The School Food Plan is exactly that – an agreed plan that has the support of the Secretary of State for Education and of diverse organisations who are supporting headteachers to improve food in their schools. Published by the Department of Education in July 2013, it sets out 17 actions to transform what children eat in schools and how they learn about food.
Policy extract: This plan is about good food and happiness. It is about the pleasures of growing, cooking and eating proper food. It is also about improving the academic performance of our children and the health of our nation. See more.
World Cancer Research Fund International
We are a not-for-profit organisation that leads & unifies a network of cancer prevention charities with a global reach. Since it started in 1982, the World Cancer Research Fund network has been a pioneer in research and health information on the link between food, nutrition, physical activity and the prevention of cancer. Our vision is to live in a world where not one develops a preventable cancer.
Policy extract: We developed the NOURISHING framework to highlight where governments need to take action to promote healthy diets and reduce overweight and obesity.See more.
California School-Based Health Alliance
The California School-Based Health Alliance is a statewide non-profit organisation helping to put more health services in schools. The California School-Based Health Alliance aims to improve the health and academic success of children and youth by advancing health services in schools.
Policy extract: Schools are a natural place to identify health problems and offer solutions. Children spend 6-8 hours per day at school, making it a logical and convenient access point for obesity prevention. The established infrastructure of schools makes school-based intervention efforts one of the most cost-effective methods of preventing childhood obesity. See more.
As a registered charity, Sustain is the alliance for better food and farming. It was formed by merging the National Food Alliance and Sustainable Agriculture Food and Environment (SAFE) Alliance. It advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity. It represents around 100 national public interest organisations working at international, national, regional and local level.
Policy extract: This short report summarises the growing evidence of the very many benefits of growing food in schools. Drawing on this and other research, and using examples of food practice, food and farming organisations, educational charities and campaign groups have come together to make a compelling case for food growing for all schools. See more.
Policy extract: This booklet is intended to outline the advantages to a school of adopting a food policy and to provide practical guidance on how to go about this. See more.
