NJPHK-Newark’s Co-director Dr. Nwando Anyaoku Featured on State of NJ’s Health Panel

April 5, 2014 | Community News, Community News and Media, Newark

Dr. Nwando Anyaoku served as one of four experts on The State of NJ’s Health: Growing Healthy Kids town hall.

Hosted by Mike Schneider, managing editor of NJTV News with Mike Schneider, the program examined the causes of the current childhood obesity crisis and the many organizations that have mobilized to tackle the problem. The program also focused on the promising strategies for addressing the epidemic and provided viewers with ways to make a difference in their own communities. Viewers also learned how neighbors are building playgrounds, launching farmer’s markets and bringing supermarkets to areas once called “food deserts.”

“Nearly one-third of children in the United States are overweight or obese,” stated Dr. Anyaoku, co-director of New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids-Newark, and director of General Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital/Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.  “Childhood obesity brings with it a plethora of health issues such as high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol—issues that have been generally associated with adults in the past.”

In addition to Dr. Anyaoku, other panelists included Adrian Benepe, senior vice president & director of City Park Development of The Trust for Public Land; Miguel Brito, head of school and executive director of Philip’s Academy Charter School in Newark; and Dwayne C. Proctor, team director and senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The panelists engaged in dialogue before an audience of more than 50 key stakeholders, health and healthcare practitioners and the general public.

“Preventing childhood obesity is a key step in creating a culture of health, and to do both we need to change the environments and policies where children live, learn, and play,” said Marco V. Navarro, senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “Our kids need access to healthy foods and safe places to have fun and be physically active. We’re excited about the progress we are making in reversing the childhood obesity epidemic, and glad NJTV is getting New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania talking about it.”

Produced by NJTV, New Jersey’s public television network, the town hall was recorded at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and Children’s Hospital of New Jersey and is one of the health-themed town halls that will be taped across the Garden State for a new four-part series entitled, The State of NJ’s Health. The program first aired on Wednesday, March 12 at 8pm with encore presentations on Friday, March 14 and Sunday, March 16 on NJTV.

The State of NJ’s Health: Growing Healthy Kids was made possible by major funding by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and additional support from The Healthcare Foundation of NJ.

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