This program was delivered to state health department policy makers and was intended to impact community members.

The CDC's (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (NPAO) Program provided funding and technical assistance to support environmental and policy changes that promoted increased physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, and breastfeeding and decreased television viewing and sweetened beverage and energy-dense food consumption.

No peer-reviewed publications assessing the effectiveness of this program were located.

State health departments that participated in the CDC's NPAO Program received funding from the CDC to initiate policy and environmental changes to support the following areas:

• Improve nutrition by increasing fruit and vegetable consumption; decrease sweetened beverage consumption; decrease high energy-dense food consumption; and increase the initiation, duration, and exclusivity of breastfeeding;
• Increase physical activity; and
• Reduce sedentary behavior by decreasing television viewing.

States that implemented the CDC's NPAO Program created a partnership of diverse stakeholders at the state level to collaborate on several tasks over 5 years. These tasks included developing, publishing, and disseminating a state plan and implementation guide; creating a training method; implementing the training and the state plan; designing an evaluation of the state plan; collecting baseline evaluation measures; developing a means of collecting and reporting surveillance data; collecting, documenting, and disseminating evaluation results; reassessing needs; and building and implementing a plan to sustain the program beyond 5 years.

In 1999, the U.S. Congress funded the CDC to initiate a nation-wide, state-based program to prevent obesity and chronic diseases, which became the CDC's NPAO Program. The program funded 28 states between 2003 and 2008, when it ended. Resultant policies and initiatives are ongoing in many states.

This program was facilitated by policy makers and key individuals at the state level, including program coordinators, nutrition coordinators, and physical activity coordinators. Training for these facilitators was offered through the Center of Excellence for Training and Research Translation at the University of North Carolina.

This program is no longer available; however, considerations for implementing a similar program might include hiring personnel, developing partnerships with community stakeholders, and creating and implementing significant infrastructure and policy-driven changes at the state level.

The Clearinghouse can help address these considerations. Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu

If you are interested in implementing a program similar to CDC's NPAO Program, the Clearinghouse is interested in helping you!  Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu

This program lasted 5 years. Implementation time varied by state health departments.

This program awarded participating state health departments $270,000 to $1.1 million. The cost to state health departments to sustain the program-derived policies and initiatives varied.

To move the CDC's NPAO program to the Promising category on the Clearinghouse Continuum of Evidence, at least one evaluation should be performed demonstrating positive effects lasting at least six months from program completion.

The Clearinghouse can help you develop an evaluation plan to ensure the program components are meeting your goals. Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu

Contact the Clearinghouse with any questions regarding this program.
Phone: 1-877-382-9185  Email: Clearinghouse@psu.edu

This program is no longer available; however, you may also contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion by mail 1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30329-4027, phone 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636), or access the webform wwwn.cdc.gov/dcs/ContactUs/Form

CDC Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Prevention Program Technical Asssistance Manual (This website no longer contains program information) and Hersey et al. (2012).