About Section on Obesity

​History

In 2010, a group of AAP Fellows rallied support from multiple AAP chapters to submit a resolution to the Annual Leadership Forum recommending that a Section dedicated to the topic of childhood obesity be created. This resolution was voted the #2 resolution and thus included into the “Top 10 Resolutions.” As a result, the members were invited to submit an application to become a Provisional Section on Obesity (PSOOb). The application was approved and the PSOOb was established in July 2011 and became an official section on July 1, 2013.

Mission

To improve the health and well-being of children and families by reducing the prevalence of childhood obesity and promoting healthy active living.

Vision

To reverse the trend in childhood obesity:

• Pediatricians are trained and supported with tools and resources to deliver high quality obesity prevention, assessment, and treatment.
• Pediatricians play a vital role when advocating for policy, environmental, and systems level changes at the community, state, and federal levels.
• Families and communities are engaged in healthy active living and are supported by pediatricians in these choices.​

Goals

• Provide an educational forum to enhance pediatricians' and other pediatric healthcare providers' knowledge and skills to address the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity.
• Create policy and clinical guidance pertaining to pediatric obesity prevention and treatment.
• Amplify pediatricians' capacity to adhere to clinical policy and guidelines by providing and disseminating resources to support and facilitate their implementation.
• Foster collaboration between pediatricians, pediatric subspecialists, and surgical specialists, as well as their healthcare community colleagues and other professional healthcare organizations and societies to maximally synergize and synchronize efforts to reverse the obesity epidemic.
• Empower pediatricians to be leaders and voices advocating for societal and environmental changes to reduce the prevalence of obesity in all communities.​