The following guest post is written by Bob Mook, Editorial Manager at the Colorado Health Foundation. This post comes particularly at a useful time when the Institute of Medicine recently came out with a report on the need for better funding for public health.

If you read Pulse + Signal regularly, you already know about the value of prevention in improving health.

Unfortunately, prevention can be a “hard sell” to those who don’t follow the health sector closely. In Colorado, as in other parts of the country, budget cuts are the norm for businesses and government. Increasingly, money is the “common language” people use and understand in these lean economic times.

As health costs and insurance premiums continue to escalate, there’s been a lot of discussion about cutting costs and reducing demand for health care services. After all, no single entity has unlimited resources to devote to health care.

While many cuts are driven by economic reality, efforts to skimp on prevention funding may prove “pennywise and pound-foolish,” according to “Prevention: Strong Investments in Colorado’s Health”(PDF), a supplement of the 2011 Colorado Health Report Card. The Report Card is published by the Colorado Health Foundation in collaboration with the Colorado Health Institute,  to gauge the state’s progress in health. The Foundation also uses the Report Card to identify priority areas for grantmaking investments.

Though Colorado often gets kudos as a healthy state (no doubt because of its pleasant climate and abundant outdoor recreational activities), the latest Report Card illustrates that our grades are merely “fair to middling.”

For example, though Colorado has the “leanest” adult population of the 50 states, our obesity rate rose from 19 to 22 percent between 2010 and 2011. With the increase, Colorado lost the distinction of being the only state in the nation with an obesity rate lower than 20 percent. One study estimates the economic
impact of obesity for Colorado at $1.7 billion a year. Furthermore, the Report Card shows we lost ground in other important areas, including prenatal care (where we rank No. 31 among states) and dental care (where we fell to No. 38). All of these factors contribute to declining health for Coloradans and adversely
higher health costs for individuals who reside here.

While many of the results from the Report Card don’t bode well for Colorado in the short term, prevention offers a bright ray of hope for improving those grades in the future. The Report Card supplement shows that investing in evidence-based public health programs could substantially reduce health care costs in Colorado over time while improving the health of our residents.

Case in point: One study estimates that an annual investment of $10 per Coloradan in community-based prevention initiatives could save more than $232 million annually in health care costs after five years – a $5.05 return for every $1 invested. Yet, despite this potential cost savings, public health represents a small portion (less than 5 percent) of every dollar spent on health care in the United States.

The supplement highlights the benefits of vaccinations (which saved $5 for every dollar invested and about $11 in additional costs to society), Nurse-Family Partnership programs (which save society $5.70 for every dollar invested) and worksite wellness (one study showed that for every dollar spent on wellness programs, overall medical costs fell by $3.27).

In addition to those encouraging findings about prevention, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has identified 10 “Winnable Battles” in public health – many of which are highlighted in the Report
Card.

Though the Report Card contains some disheartening statistics, the good news is that investing in prevention could greatly improve quality and reduce costs in Colorado and nationwide.

Big news happening. I was fortunate to be part of the selection committee for the Health Justice CT Challenge that got kicked off at the end of 2011. Basically Connecticut is growing leaders and innovators to reshape how health makes an impact in their communities.

The purpose of the challenge was to open the idea dialogue for those working to provide health equality in the state and give voice to the initiatives that would be sustainable/successful with the boost of the $10,000 prize. After months of entries, voting and selections – we are pleased to announce the winner: The Summer of Solutions Hartford!

A little bit about the initiative:

An initiative of Grand Aspirations, the Summer of Solutions Hartford project aims to address the food desert issue in Frog Hollow, a Hartford, Connecticut neighborhood, where 71% of residents are of Hispanic descent. The project is designed to engage residents in urban farming and to create a community garden that will provide residents access to fresh fruit and vegetables.

We have been delighted with the response to this challenge. All of the projects were inspiring and creatively proposed to address the state’s most pressing health issues,” said Heang Tan, Health Justice CT project manager. “This challenge provided an opportunity for people to share their ideas, stories and solutions with us. We’re excited to hear these ideas and stories, and look forward in continuing to make these projects possible.

I absolutely love when projects like this get the boost they need to become sustainable and continue to create the impact that the community needs around health and wellness. Here’s a word from Jennifer Roach, Summer of Solutions Program Leader:

I am so excited for the work we get to do this summer. With this $10,000 we will be able to expand el Jardín de Zion Street by building 50 new raised beds. We can provide need-based stipends for our program participants so 15 young people can experience a life-changing summer of change-making and personal growth,” said Jennifer Roach, Summer Solutions Hartford Program Leader.

Grassroots level changes will lead to macro level results and impact. Keep it going.

If you’ve ever smoked, and tried to quit, chances are you know how much fun quitting, and quit attempts, aren’t. The cravings, the mood swings, the weight gain – ugh! What if quitting smoking was fun instead?

Game Mode: Relax

Funded by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer Program grant, Lit2Quit is a mobile game that aims to help smokers reduce or quit smoking. This promising technology is being developed and studied by a group of researchers, developers, and health professionals at Teachers College at Columbia University. I caught up recently with Azadeh Jamalian, a Ph.D student at Teachers College, and one of the lead researchers and developers on the Lit2Quit initiative. She graciously agreed to answer my many questions, and share them with Pulse + Signal readers.

BC: Lit2Quit attempts to match the effects of smoking through game play, either relaxation or receiving a “rush” – are there really only two states in which a smoker may find themselves?

AJ: Yes, research shows that smokers perceive smoking as a sedative or stimulating experience depending on their state of mind (Donovan & Marlatt, 2007). However, there may be different motives for smoking. According to Kassel, Paronis, & Stroud (2003), the most commonly reported motive is stress reduction (hence, perceived sedative effects of nicotine); other cited motives include perceived stimulant effect of smoking (specially when drinking), socialization, addiction, habit, and sensorimotor aspects of smoking (see Donovan & Marlatt, 2007).

In addition, research shows that nicotine enhances memory and focuses attention (Hahn, Ross, Yang, Kim, Huestis, & Stein, 2007; Lawrence, Ross, & Stein, 2002, Vossel, Warbrick, Mobascher, Winterer, & Fink, 2011). Although you cannot target everything in a single project, and different products may be suitable for different people, we tried to have all these motives in mind when designing Lit2Quit.

Game Mode: Rush

Mirroring the perceived stimulating and sedating effects of nicotine, Lit2Quit is designed in two modes, RUSH and RELAX. These modes use specific breath patterns and game design challenges to excite or relax the player. Depending on his/her state of mind, the player chooses which mode he/she wishes to play. For the future releases of the game, we are planning to integrate social aspects in which players could collaborate and play together, or they can invite their friends to see the world they created. In addition, we believe that since the players control both versions of the game with their breath, the gameplay mimics the behavior of smoking and help smokers to control their urge through engagement of their sensorimotor habits. Further, to enhance player’s attention and memory, the players need to memorize certain patterns to succeed in the higher levels of the game.

BC: The aim of Lit2Quit is smoking reduction through replacement of the stimulus with game play. Can you say more about how this plays out? In other words, are participants switching “cold turkey” to Lit2Quit, or is there a gradual change over time?

AJ: The aim of Lit2Quit is smoking reduction through replacement of the stimulus with game play. Since we haven’t done any field studies yet, we cannot know for sure how smoking behavior changes as the result of the gameplay. However, our hypothesis is that the game will help smokers to gradually reduce their smoking over time, as they become more expert in the gameplay, and hence can perform the advanced breath patterns in the game more successfully. Our initial studies have shown that these advanced breath patterns more closely mimics the perceived and physiological effects of nicotine.

BC: Are there preliminary data you can share with us yet?

AJ: We have compared the physiological and perceived emotional effects of gameplay to smoking through various measurements such as Self-Assessment- Manikin (SAM) survey, Electroencephalography (EEG), electrocardiography (EKG), and skin conductance (SC). Although smoking is perceived as either a stimulant or sedative, physiologically it stimulates the body. Therefore, in order to compare effects of playing the game to smoking, we analyzed both perceived and physiological effects. Overall, results show that on average subjects perceive playing either modes of the game as an enjoyable experience, and that Lit2Quit partially mimics perceived and physiological effects of smoking. We also learned that since breath is a novel game mechanic (as evidenced by the fact that in 100+ subjects, none of them had experience using their breath as a control mechanic for a mobile game), the initial difficulty levels of the game should be set low to allow players to grasp how to play the game using their breath.

At this stage of the project, we don’t have behavior change data to share. Efficacy trials are the next contemplated step for the project pending funding.

BC: After learning about the game, I wondered if the game is able to match the effects of smoking, is there any danger of addiction to the video game?

AJ: Your question reminds me of a recent article, “Saving Education Through Games Addiction.” I personally like the possibility of “saving health through game addiction!”

BC: What else should we know about the Lit2Quit research?

AJ: We have successfully finished the first stage of the project and are publishing our results in tandem with providing peer review opportunities at presentations at notable gaming and health care conferences. Our plan is to enrich the design of the game by adding a layer of social and community aspects to the game as well as explore platform agnosticism and body sensor networking for input monitoring. Most critical to the game’s success and impact are new collaboration and partnership opportunities with developers,
nonprofit foundations, educational institutions and industry. In particular, we are in the process of designing efficacy trials to study short-term and long-term patterns of smoking behavior change as the result of gameplay intervention. You could follow our progress and contact us via our Facebook page or www.Lit2Quit.com.

BC: Do you think Lit2Quit could be played for any other purposes aside from smoking reduction?

AJ: Yes! The game is fun to play and in fact anyone could enjoy playing the game without even knowing that it’s a smoking reduction game. In addition, since there is no direct reference to smoking in the game, the Relax mode in particular could be played for any type of stress reduction. if you gain expertise in the “Relax” version of the game you could train yourself to self-relax through meditative breathing patterns, and therefore self-monitor your stress through breathing slower than your usual rate. The game has other health benefits. It could be used in clinics for treating asthma and chronic inflammatory diseases of the airways.

–

To learn more about Lit2Quit watch this video:

Lit2Quit Video by Advance from Dan Rabinowitz on Vimeo.

Bridgette

Bridgette Collado, MA, RD, is a health communication consultant and registered dietitian, and a contributor to Pulse + Signal. Follow Bridgette on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bcollado.

References:
Donovan, D.M. & Marlatt, G.A. (Eds.). (2007). Assessment of addictive behavior (2nd ed.), The Guilford Press.

Hahn, B., Ross, T.J., Yang, Y., Kim, I., Huestis, M.A, Stein, E.A. (2007). Nicotine enhances visuospatial attention by deactivating areas of the resting brain default network. Journal of  Neuroscience, 27, 3477?3489.

Kassel, J.D., Stroud, L.R., & Paronis, C.A. (2003). Smoking, stress, and negative affect: Correlation, causation, and context across stages of smoking. Psychological Bulletin, 129(2), 270-304.

Lawrence, N.S., Ross, T.J., Stein, E.A., (2002). Cognitive mechanisms of nicotine on visual attention. Neuron, 36 (3), 24, 539?548.

Vossel, S., Warbrick, T., Mobascher, A. Winterer, G. , & Fink, G.R. (2011). Spatial and sustained attention in relation to smoking status: behavioural performance and brain activation patterns, Journal of Psychopharmacology, 25(11) 1485?1495.

One of the critically acclaimed films that I’ve heard quite alot about over the past several months, is The Interrupters. Part of the RWJF funded CeaseFire Chicago project, the film looks at preventing violence through the lens of public health. How awesome is that?

Violence as a disease. Brilliant.

Here’s a video of one of the main “stars” of the film, Ameena Matthews, talking with Stephen Colbert on his show recent -

If you haven’t had a chance to check out one of their numerous screenings, you will be happy (I know I am!) to know that the film will be making its debut on PBS’s Frontline program on Valentine’s Day next Tuesday.

From the RWJF website:

CeaseFire was developed in 1995 by epidemiologist Dr. Gary Slutkin to reduce gun violence among youth. The program applies public health practices to violence prevention, focusing on the highest-risk individuals to interrupt violent actions and change the thinking about violence as acceptable behavior. The Department of Justice, states, and localities funded replication sites in Columbus, Ohio, New Orleans, Brooklyn, and throughout New York state.
A 2008 U.S. Department of Justice-funded evaluation of CeaseFire in Chicago found significant reductions in gun violence and retaliatory homicides associated with four of seven intervention neighborhoods studied. The program’s success led the Baltimore City Health Department to replicate Chicago’s CeaseFire program in four of Baltimore’s most violent neighborhoods under the name Safe Streets with a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.

In January 2012, Safe Streets also released a promising program evaluation conducted by Daniel Webster, ScD, MPH, and Jennifer Whitehill, PhD, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The evaluation was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and measured Safe Streets’ effect on gun violence, attitudes about the acceptability of gun use and impact on the lives of participants after the implementation of the program.
Researchers found the Safe Streets program was responsible for declines in shootings and killings. Homicides were reduced by more than half in Baltimore’s Cherry Hill neighborhood. And in communities plagued by violence where Safe Streets wasn’t implemented, community members were seven times more likely to support using guns to resolve disputes compared to a Safe Streets neighborhood.

CeaseFire receives support from RWJF’s Vulnerable Populations Portfolio, which creates new opportunities for better health by investing in health where it starts – in our communities, homes, schools and jobs.

The following guest post is by Elizabeth Krause, Senior Program Officer and Director of the Health Leadership Fellows program, and Jenn Whinnem, Communications Officer and Class of 2012 Fellow at the Connecticut Health Foundation.

Every Connecticut resident should have access to quality health care. But it’s not that simple. Because of language and cultural barriers, inherent societal bias, and other factors, health disparities exist in racial and ethnic populations, even when there is ready access to health care.

Because the Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) is committed to ending health disparities, every year, we select up to 20 diverse individuals to participate in our Health Leadership Fellows program to build public will for health equity.

While there are many leadership development programs across the country, what makes our program unique is our commitment to developing the leadership skills of people of color who are working on this issue in Connecticut. The focus on health equity provides a real-world context for skill development for a group whose leadership contributions have historically been under recognized.

Let’s face it: the rising tide does not lift all ships. Connecticut needs strong potential leaders of color to advance the issue of health equity. Our network includes 140 fellows who are ready, willing, and able to act as opportunities arise. We cultivate our leaders by providing opportunities where they can:

• Learn from state and national health leaders, policy-makers, trainers, and their peers
• Develop an understanding of the theory behind systems change as part of realizing health equity (rather than addressing equity issues one person at a time)
• Discover their own personal leadership style and how to work with other styles in multi-disciplinary coalitions
• Communicate with strategic, values-based messaging to effectively influence others around this issue
• Expand their professional network across sectors and industries.

We’re interested in leaders from all walks of life – healthcare, education, business, community. Our strongest requirements are a passion for achieving health equity and commitment to learning whether you are an emerging or seasoned professional.

Don’t just take it from me. Our Principal Consultant Heidi Brooks shares what you can expect – even on the first day! – as a participant in the program:

Hear the Class of 2012 talk about what drew them to the program, and read about some of the projects from the 2011 Class.

Are you excited yet? If yes, your written application form and a third-party recommendation letter are due by April 2, 2012. Visit this page to learn more!

Today marks the beginning of the last month of the year, but it also is a reminder for us about the importance of bringing HIV/AIDS to an end. Today is World AIDS Day. A time for education and action regarding the disease that still is affecting many worldwide.

Phil Wilson, CEO of the Black AIDS Institute, had this to say in a statement on World AIDS Day:

We are at a deciding moment. We have the tools to end the AIDS epidemic in America. We can do more than imagine the end of the epidemic: We can make it happen.  We have new diagnostic tools, new surveillance capabilities, new prevention strategies, new treatment options, and a new understanding of how to interrupt acquisition and transmission. The question is no longer can we end AIDS? The question is: Do we have the moral will and the political leadership to do it. Will we use these newly acquired and in some cases primitive tools efficiently, compassionately and effectively?

I feel that quote can be applied to much in public health and glad Wilson made that part of his statement. He also mentions the national strategy that was developed to combat HIV/AIDS that President Obama put into place. Despite the tremendous amount of politics and commercialization that get attached to these health issues, we must remain focused on the goal of prevention and bringing them to an end.

For those of you active on Twitter, the official hashtag for World AIDS Day is #WAD11

Here are some other highlights for World AIDS Day:

• Phil Wilson’s entire statement
• Crowd Out AIDS initiative (social media/crowdsourcing)
• AIDS.gov resources (@Aidsgov on Twitter)

Today celebrates the first annual national Food Day. I caught up with Lilia Smelkova, Campaign Manager with Food Day,  to get the full scoop…

What is Food Day?

Food Day is a national grassroots campaign for healthy, affordable food produced in humane, sustainable and just way.  Food Day is modeled after Earth Day, and will take place anually on October 24 with people across the country celebrating by organizing or attending events, big and small–on college campuses, at schools, in public parks, at farmers markets. Major themes include health, sustainable agriculture, cutting subsidies to agribusiness, and eradicating food deserts. Food Day aims to educate the general public, influence local and state food policies, and give a platform for diverse to dialogue and work together. But more important, Food Day aims to inspire Americans to change their diets for the better and start cooking for families again.

After months of organizing by countless people, there will be more than 2,000 events from coast to coast in 50 states on and around October 24.  Local governments are seizing the opportunity to announce new food policy initiatives. The National Archives will be hosting a Food Day Open House, and there will be an “Eat In” in Times Square in New York, with guests Morgan Spurlock, Marion Nestle, and 50 other food leaders and community activists. You can learn more about Food Day priorities and look for events around the country here: www.foodday.org.

What is the significance of October 24th?

We wanted to select a date that would give some time for schools and campuses to organize activities, not too close to Earth Day, to give a possibility for organizers to participate and leave time to plan, and also be close to the World Food Day, one of our partners, celebrating with actions on world hunger issues and addressing domestic food access.

Dozens of school districts and hundreds of campuses are celebrating countrywide. Portland Public Schools will serve a special meal of locally-raised, grass-fed beef and unlimited fruits and vegetables  for kids from 30,000 families. Every school in Denver will have a special Food Day menu. Schools in Boston, Boulder County, Los Angeles, and Detroit will celebrate as well. The Real Food Challenge has involved more than 200 college campuses in dinning hall events, teach-ins, conferences, picnics and more.

How did the Food Day folks settle on the 6 Food Day principles?

Food Day’s goal is nothing less than to transform the American diet—to inspire a broad movement involving people from every walk of life. In other words, we want America to eat real. The 6 Food Day principles were selected to give a broad umbrella, a platform for groups working on all aspects of food system to collaborate together, public health advocates, environmental activists and farm workers justice movement. We have based the selection on a survey made earlier this year when we asked thousands of respondents, including our advisory board members, what were the priorities that wanted to see addressed by Food Day.

Food Day’s 6 principles are:

What can our readers do today to participate in Food Day?

First of all, attend a Food Day event. If you haven’t found a Food Day event near you, visit FoodDay.org to search by our map or by typing in your zip code. (Be patient as events take time to load in the map—a lot of people are visiting right now!). Besides events in public places, Food Day events will take place at homes.  For inspiration, we are offering a free Food Day recipe booklet featuring recipes from Mario Batali, Rick Bayless, Emeril Lagasse, Nina Simonds, and other renown chefs.

If you want to create your own Food Day event at home with family or friends, there is still time. We have a great dinner party kit collection of totally delicious recipes from celebrity chefs to get you started. If you want to raise money for a local food-related charity, you can enter a contest led by Epicurious.com—winning entries will get their donations matched up to $1,000! We even have tips for Halloween, and Food Day pumpkin carving stencils. We encourage everyone to sign the Food Day petition asking Congress for better food policies.

And of course you can keep up with Food Day by liking it on Facebook, following CSPI on Twitter, or by using the #FoodDay hashtag.

What can we expect from Food Day in the coming years?

Food Day will be October 24—this year and in years to come. Food Day aims to become for the Food Movement what Earth Day has been for the Environmental Movement, bringing food education into school curriculum, helping to improve diets, and giving the much needed support to sustainable agriculture.  Food Day will inspire hundreds of thousands if not millions of Americans to change their diets for the better, and to push for improved food policies. Although with Food Day, actively making change – even for one day – can have a tremendous impact, we also see efforts on improving policies. Rhode Island and Montgomery County, Maryland are announcing the formation of the food policy councils on Food Day. In California, dozens of nonprofit organizations have come together to promote a petition campaign to generate support for a smarter Farm Bill.

–

Bridgette Collado (aka, @bcollado)

Lilia Smelkova worked for Slow Food International in Italy for 10 years and initiated the Slow Food network in Eastern and Central Europe and Canada. She supervised international communications and directed the launch of an international education program that birthed the first European network of sustainable school cafeterias. She also worked on the core team that planned the first Terra Madre, a meeting of food communities from 150 countries. Lilia holds a BA from Minsk Linguistics University in Belarus (she is fluent in Italian, Russian, English, French, and Spanish), a Master’s in languages from Turin University in Italy, and a certificate in environmental management from UC Berkeley, where she co-authored a nutrition education study. She recently guided an expedition of Italian scientists along the Silk Road to research food preferences and genetics. She believes that food is among the best ways to experience the world, especially Uzbek pilaf, Pamir mountain mulberries, and Transylvanian jams.

Guest post by Ana Tellez, a Senior Health Writer at CommunicateHealth. She is currently pursuing her M.A. in Communication & Education at Columbia University’s Teachers College where she is researching the intersection of technology design and health literacy.

Greetings, Pulse + Signalers! This week the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) is hosting its annual meeting in New York City with numerous heads of state, CEOs, global leaders, and Hollywood stars wearing their nonprofit leadership hats (see the featured list of attendees here). President Bill Clinton established CGI in 2005 with the mission “to inspire, connect, and empower a community of global leaders to forge solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.” CGI does this by facilitating cross-sector partnerships through its Member Meetings – like the one this week – and its Commitments to Action by Members.

The focus of this year’s meeting is threefold: jobs and generating employment, sustainable consumption, and girls/women. Each of these topics is in its own way tethered to issues of public healthand social justice – with certain breakout sessions explicitly focusing on these issues. To give you a taste of what’s in store, here are a few sessions I’m looking forward to:

• The World at 7 Billion: A Member Conversation with President Clintonwith the one and only Bill
• Sustainable Food Systemswith remarks by Nigel Harris, CEO of FARM-Africa and others
• Form and Function: Designing for Humanity with participants such as Jocelyn Wyatt, Executive Director of IDEO.org
• Reproducing Success: Game-changing Interventions in Women’s Health with remarks by Elizabeth Maguire, President and CEO of Ipas and others
• Designing Technologies for Economic Empowerment with participants such as Geena Davis, Founder of The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media

Follow me on Twitter at @AnaTellezwhere I’ll be live-tweeting Tuesday through Thursday using the event’s hashtag of #cgi2011,and tune into the Pulse + Signal blog for a full-length post of the event in the coming days!

On June 9, 2011, sanofi-aventis U.S. announced the “sanofi-aventis U.S. Innovation Challenge: Data, Design, Diabetes” at the National Institute of Health’s Health Data Initiative Forum. The challenge integrates open data with a human-centered view into diabetes, and will award $220,000 in total prize money.  Guest blogger Michele Polz provides details on how this challenge came to be, and the future of similar challenges to change the face of healthcare. 

The room was packed and there was a buzz in the air. It was June 9, and I was at the Health Data Initiative Forum, an effort to accelerate momentum for the public use of data and innovation to improve health. Hosted by the Institute of Medicine and Health and Human Services, the event brought together hundreds of entrepreneurs, technologists, data mavens, and government officials driving innovation in health and healthcare.

As the Head of Patient Solutions, Diabetes, Sanofi-Aventis U.S., I couldn’t think of a better place to announce the “sanofi-aventis U.S. Innovation Challenge: Data, Design, Diabetes.”

For those who might not be familiar, diabetes is a chronic, progressive disease that has reached epidemic proportion in the US and at current rates the CDC estimates that by the year 2050 1 in 3 Americans will have diabetes.  It is known as a “self-managed” disease, requiring people with diabetes to frequently check their blood sugar levels, administer treatments, and keep track of a lot of numbers. In one sense, people living with diabetes are the epitome of the quantified self movement.

“Innovation” has many definitions, so for this challenge we are looking for a solution that brings together the strength of insight enabled by open data sets and the empathetic connection provided through human-centered design to meaningfully help people living with diabetes in the US.

We were equally interested in ensuring that the best data-driven and human centered solutions receive more than a token award. We want to see solutions come to market to complement the treatments and devices that are currently available. It is also important to note that as an open innovation challenge, all intellectual property and equity will remain the property of its creators throughout the entire competition.

sanofi-aventis U.S. Innovation Challenge: Data Design Diabetes from Data Design Diabetes on Vimeo.

These principles helped shape the staged approach that we feel is necessary to change the face of healthcare:

July 1, 2011 – July 31, 2011: The competition is open and submissions are accepted via entry form on the website: www.datadesigndiabetes.com. Note that the submission is a concept only with potential to be prototyped within 4 weeks.

August 5, 2011: A panel of esteemed judges will select 5 semi-finalists, who will be awarded $20,000 to build a prototype.

August 8 to September 2, 2011: The 5 semifinalists will take part in a “virtual incubator” where they will be provided advice and mentorship from industry leaders in topics such as user experience, business modeling, and technology architecture. The areas of mentorship will be determined by the semi-finalist concepts.

September 2011:  The 5 semi-finalists will take part in a “Demo Day” to pitch their concepts. The event will be live-streamed.

October 1, 2011: Two finalists will be announced and awarded $10,000 to conduct a community uptake exercise. The community uptake exercise consists of engaging with a real community of people living with diabetes gather responses to their prototype. Finalists will determine the community uptake location and format with the Sponsors. The exercise will be one month long.

December 15, 2011: 1 winner will be announced and awarded $100,000 and a 1-month stay at the Rock Health accelerator to develop their concept.

So at this point, I’d like to issue a personal appeal to the Pulse + Signal readers who may be considering this challenge. Your interest in health and technology has the potential to improve the experience or outcome for the millions of people living with diabetes today. To learn more:

• Visit the Website: www.datadesigndiabetes.com
• Watch our Video: http://vimeo.com/25434364
• Follow us on Twitter: @DDDiabetes
• Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Data-Design-Diabetes/129625740449604

The following is a guest post from Elizabeth Brotherton of PreventObesity.net reviewing the final day of the recent Childhood Obesity Conference held in San Diego, CA. More photos from the event can be found on their Facebook page. You can see Part 1 of the conference review here.

Get ready to sweat.

If there was one message out of last month’s 6^th Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference, it was that solving obesity won’t be solved with one big fix. It’s going to require significant policy change on the federal, state and local level, doing everything from promoting healthier food and beverages to increasing physical activity and the monumental task of getting people to spend less time in their cars. And it’s going to be an effort that will take a decade or more.

But as mentioned in the last post, the topic du joir was food marketing, as panelists and participants alike brainstormed ways to curb the influence that food and beverage companies have on children.  The problem, the experts seemed to agree, is that marketing has become so powerful and prevalent that even the most active and involved parents have a difficult time combating it.

I was particularly struck by the words of Dr. Margo Wootan, the director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, who appeared on a panel about advertising to children, alongside other policy pros like Dale Kunkel of the University of Arizona and Kelly Brownell of the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University.

Wootan was able to spout out plenty of interesting statistics about food marketing to kids — mainly that advertisers hawk all the unhealthy stuff and don’t bother pushing nutritious items — but I was moved by her own experiences as a mom. Being a nutrition expert, Wootan worked to ensure her daughter wasn’t exposed to fast food… but it was in vain.

“Even before my little girl was watching television, she was talking about… that hamburger place with the clown has,” Wootan said, referring McDonald’s. “And then her cousins taught her that they also have French fries.”

Wootan noted that studies show that kids need to push their nine times for something before exhausted moms or dads finally give in. Advertisers know that, which is why they push so hard for kids to know about their products.

The beverage industry also was the focus of the last day of the conference, as experts presented evidence showing the growing influence of the soft drink industry during the past decade. During one soda-focused session, Harold Goldstein of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy screened this classic Pepsi ad featuring Michael Jackson (and a young Alfonzo Ribeiro from “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”). The infamous ad features Jackson singing his song “Billie Jean” with the rewritten lyrics “You’re the Pepsi Generation/guzzle down and taste the thrill of the day/and feel the Pepsi way.”

The ad, Goldstein noted, is a clear marker of a “whole new generation” addicted to soda — and significantly more obese.

Brownell also spoke on the soda-themed panel (seriously, that guy was everywhere) and said that while targeting soda might not be the only solution to reversing obesity, “it’s a good place to start.”

“I think we are going to win this, but it’s not going to be easy,” Brownell added.

The conference wrapped up with a keynote panel on social media, which included a few words from my boss, PreventObesity.net co-founder Marty Kearns. Marty and the other participants pushed the 300 or so folks who stayed until the last moments of the conference to really embrace social media as a way to get their message to others, and present relevant data in new and interesting ways.

It’s more than just tweets, they agreed; it’s about using technology to present material to people in ways that effects them and spurs them to act.

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Elizabeth Brotherton is a senior writer and editor for PreventObesity.net. She is tasked with creating original content for the project, including on its blog and weekly newsletter, The Inside Track. Brotherton previously wrote the “Heard on the Hill” column for Roll Call and has written for a number of publications, including the Orange County Register, Press-Enterprise and the Almanac of the Unelected.