Health Promotion 2011

The turn of the calendar from one year to the next often is accompanied by looking backward and looking forward.  Today I want to look forward to things that I think will happen in the world of health promotion.  Based on events in the world of practice and current trends and events, these are things I think we can anticipate happening, having an impact on health status and health promotion practice in the U.S.

Texting and driving will be a developing story.  As texting is still on the upswing, more and more states and communities are taking action.  Journalists will be looking for results from the various efforts to discourage texting while driving.  There will be more public education addressing cell phone and driving safety, such as the current PSA developed by the U.S. Department of Transportation. 

It may be that the ultimate solution will be a technological one.  For example, what if there was a way for cell phones to interact with a car's electrical system, so that while the car is moving, outgoing calls and all texts, in and out, were blocked?  In coming calls could be received, but for all other cell functions, the car would have to be parked.  Perhaps phones would come with a pre-installed app with a GPS function detecting motion.  As long as the car is moving, all phone functions are disabled.  These ideas are only speculation, but today's theme is the future in health promotion.  This whole story is fascinating to watch, and will present many new ideas for health promotion practice.

Another area I would like to make predictions about is the campaign against overweight and obesity.  There will be on-going public education in multiple venues and formats: school instruction, mass media, patient education, workplace health programs, and so forth.  Most of this education will be only modestly effective at best.  This is due to several factors working against relevant diet and exercise behavior change.  First, current patterns of physical activity and nutrition are deeply ingrained in the culture and social norms, making change much more difficult.  Next, there is huge opposition from food and beverage makers and fast food vendors - sugar, fat and empty calories represent massive profits.  These corporate interests will work as hard as possible to counteract the health promotion messages.  Finally, our success in reversing overweight is abysmal.  Many people lose weight, but the segment of dieters who lose weight permanently is very small.  The state of the art and science of weight loss is still primitive.  There is no reason to expect this to dramatically change in the near term.

The real action with respect to the anti-obesity campaign will be with policy solutions.  This is going to heat up in 2011, because many politically conservative leaders and organizations are starting to push back against what they see as "nanny state" over reach by big government.  For example, in December of 2010, President Obama signed into law the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which among other things establishes nutritional standards for foods regularly sold in schools.  One side sees this as a way to improve the nutritional status of children while the other side thinks it tramples on local control of schools and the prerogatives of parents.  The intensified focus on the obesity epidemic is going to collide with conservative ideology, and this will be seen more and more in 2011 and going forward.

A final issue that seems to be heating up is the use of smokeless tobacco, in the form of mouth-absorbed tobacco (e.g. Snus) or electronic cigarettes.  The only reason this is coming up now is that tobacco companies are redoubling their efforts to sell products, and because the door is increasingly closed on conventional cigarettes, these other options are seen by Big Tobacco as viable alternatives to support their business.

There are undoubtedly going to be many other health challenges coming to the forefront in 2011.  For example, I wonder what will happen this year regarding 1) climate change and 2) pandemic flu?  One of the things that makes health promotion always interesting is the parade of new issues always coming along.  Stay tuned.