Next I will present our successes, which would not be possible without our many partners.
This summer (July 23, 2013), the FDA released a scientific report related to menthol-flavored cigarettes. See “Preliminary Scientific Evaluation of the Possible Public Health Effects of Menthol versus Non-menthol Cigarettes.” The FDA’s report confirmed what the public health community has known for years – that menthol flavored cigarettes are more addictive and harder to quit. They are a starter product for youth. Kids aged 12-17 smoke menthols more than any other group. In addition, significant racial, gender and socioeconomic disparities were found in in the use of menthol cigarettes.
Explain town hall process. One of the things we are most proud of is that we engaged many non-traditional partners in this process – not just organizations like cancer, heart, lung. Our extensive partnerships on the menthol campaign has really raised a great deal of awareness and built grassroots level support for local action. Several policy makers collaborated on this process, too.
In fact, the response has been overwhelming. Out pouring of letters of support. Board of Health will be releasing report soon. We will be sure to distribute it in a variety of ways, including Twitter. You can support this effort by joining the conversation. #NoMoreMenthol
Increase the number of pedestrian trips for enjoyment, school, work, and daily errandsIncrease the mode share of pedestrian trips for enjoyment, school, work, and daily errands
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Commissioner Choucair: I am proud to share with you some breaking news today. New data for the 2013-2014 school year show that the obesity rate for CPS kindergartners continues to decrease. Compared to 2003 data for from our terrific partners at CLOCC, this is a decrease from 24% to 19.1%. In other words, while almost 1 in 4 kindergarten-aged Chicago youth were obese in 2003, that number fell to less than 1 in 5 by 2012. That is quit a change in less than a decade. Looking at this school year’s students, approximately 1,000 more kindergartners walked through the doors on the first day of school at a healthier weight compared to a decade ago.And it is essential to note that this decline is being felt by all racial and ethnic groups, including African American and Hispanic children, who have historically had disproportionately high rates of obesity. While we ought to pause and celebrate this success, our City’s obesity rates remain far above state and national averages, and now more than ever this Task Force needs to roll up its sleeves and get to work.
Another strategy of Healthy Chicago is to increase the availability of public health data through the City’s website.To that end, we now make use of the City’s Open Data Portal to push out frequent updates of indicator data related to births, deaths, infectious diseases, environmental health, hospital discharges, and public health assets.The way it works, we don’t provide any data directly to the Chicago Health Atlas website; the developers subscribe to our feed on the Data Portal, and can update their views with new data as it becomes available.
CDPH established Advisory Group as forum for academic and practice partners to discuss data and methodsMember Organizations:Chapin HallCook County Health & Hospitals SystemIllinois Department of Public HealthLurie Children’s Hospital—Child Health Data LabNorthwestern UniversitySinai Urban Health InstituteUniversity of ChicagoUniversity of Illinois at ChicagoThe Advisory Group meets quarterly. Examples of topics for discussion include:Analysis of CPS BMI dataChildhood exposure to violence surveillanceSmall area interpolation
So as you can see, we work closely with partners to forward the goals of Healthy Chicago and assist with innovative research to improve the health of Chicagoans.