Multimedia Program Aims to Tackle Obesity

Melanie Kosaka noticed that the television shows her 5-year-old daughter watched featured reading and other educational skills but there was nothing on wellness or staying fit.

Around the same time, the Centers for Disease Control and prevention released a study showing an increase in childhood Obesity.

Another report released in September by the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, said some 9 million children older than 6 are obese.

The institute said that over the last 30 years the rate of childhood obesity has tripled among youngsters aged 6 to 11 and has doubled for those aged 2 to 5 and 12 to 19.

"In the United States, 16 percent of all children are considered overweight or obese," Kosaka said. "In Hawaii, that number is nearly one out of every four children."

Those figures led Kosaka, a Honolulu multimedia specialist, to develop Get Healthy Now, an educational campaign to encourage kids in kindergarten through third grade and their parents to lead healthier lives by making better choices about what they eat and staying active.

"If young children learn good health habits it will impact them for the rest of their lives," said Kosaka, who began working on the program in 2001.

"If we want to make changes to health and wellness, we need to involve schools and parents," she said.

Her goal is to expand the program to reach students through grade 12. She also hopes it will serve as a pilot program for the rest of the nation.

"The Hawaii model would be applicable everywhere," Kosaka said, although resources would have to be localized.

Her program includes an interactive Web site; a series of television public service ads promoting fitness and good nutrition, including several with animated characters; and classroom instruction.

The Web site features sections for children, parents and teachers. The teachers section features lesson plans for nutrition and physical education developed by Dr. Charles Morgan, assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology & Leisure Science at the University of Hawaii.

The lesson plans are aimed at increasing physical activity levels in children, Morgan said.

"Physical activity doesn't have to be the sports type," he said. "It can be simple things such as carrying out trash, washing the family car or walking."

The lesson plans meet standards of the state Department of Education, which has been receptive, Kosaka said. She made a presentation at the department's recent health conference.

The Web site was launched on Dec. 1, and about 30 schools have signed on, Kosaka said. Registration will continue through Jan. 15.