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USDA
Under Secretary to Visit Auburn
 Auburn,
June 12, 2002--Eric Bost, U.S. Department of Agriculture under
secretary for food, nutrition and consumer services, will visit
Auburn University Wednesday, June 19. He will meet with Alabama
Integrated Nutrition Education Partnership (AINEP), a partnership of
organizations, led by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.
AINEP is committed to promoting healthy lifestyle choices to all
citizens.
Dr. Suzette Jelinek,
Extension network and marketing specialist, says Bost will discuss
the importance of changing the nation's lifestyle in order to bring
chronic diseases such as childhood obesity under control. Jelinek
serves as the chairperson of AINEP.
"Another reason
Bost is visiting Alabama is that our state partnership is well ahead
of other states," says Jelinek. "We already have
established a partnership of organizations who are contributing
funding to the AINEP strategic plan."
Extension is joined in
AINEP by the Alabama Department of Public Health's Women, Infant and
Children program, the Governor's Commission on Physical Fitness, the
Alabama Child Nutrition Program, and the Alabama Department of
Public Health's Nutrition and Physical Activity Unit, just to name a
few.
The group, formed in
2001, will promote healthy lifestyles including increased physical
activity and improved nutrition to all Alabamians.
"There will be an
emphasis on those with limited resources to reduce their risk of
cancer, heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure," says
Jelinek. "The cornerstone of our efforts will be a social
marketing campaign over the next five years."
The campaign will
include television and radio public service announcements,
brochures, computer presentations, a 1-800 hotline as well as a
number of other program efforts.
The first message
Alabamians will be hearing is "Take Action. Walk, Dance and
Play." This theme will begin appearing in October 2002 and will
run through May 2003. Following the "Take Action" message,
there will be themes encouraging increased consumption of fruits and
vegetables, followed by one touting choosing a diet lower in fat.
AINEP has included means
of evaluating the program's effectiveness both in the short- and
long-term. AINEP will use multiple federal and state evaluations to
assess the effectiveness of the campaign.
Jelinek says, "AINEP's
commitment not only to effective programming but accountability of
how funds are used make us a role model for other states who are
just beginning their efforts to comply with a federal call for
seamless nutrition education."
Bost, in his 10-month
tenure at USDA, has been an advocate of increased accountability of
the use of federal funds as well as improved program evaluations.
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