"World Heath Care Congress Affordable Health Innovations Exhibit and Awards" 7th Annual World Health Care Congress 2010

View Full Poster »

CATCH (Coordinated Approach To Child Health) is a widely implemented school-based health promotion in the United States that targets the major individual and environmental influences of behavioral change – school, family, community, policy, and the children. Its success lies in its coordinated, school physical activity programs and by engaging families and community members. CATCH is vitally needed in Texas where 42 percent of 4th grade students and almost 36 percent of 8th grade students are overweight or obese.

CATCH works by targeting the major individual and environmental influences of behavioral change – school, family, community, policy and the children themselves. Its success lies in its coordinated, holistic approach to instilling healthy habits, reaching children through health education curriculum, child nutrition services, school physical activity programs and by engaging families and community members. Results from implementation of CATCH in various communities have been very promising. In Texas, CATCH was first implemented in schools in El Paso County in 2000 and the program has shown statistically significant results, reducing the number of obese fifth graders by 11 percent for girls and 8 percent for boys. To expand the impact of the program, a CATCH project in elementary schools in Travis County was initiated to improve the health and fitness of 59,000 children in Travis County. The primary project goals were to implement the CATCH program in all 97 elementary schools in Travis County, including 58 targeted low-income schools, and to decrease the prevalence of overweight fourth grade students from a baseline of 23.5 percent to 15 percent in four years. Preliminary data have shown significant decreases in child obesity after one year of implementation. In addition, the CATCH program has now been expanded to middle schools in Central Texas. Results: Data have shown significant decreases in child overweight and obesity after 1 year of implementation, a 7% net difference between community and non community CATCH schools. Conclusions: Results support a school plus community strategy to reduce prevalence of childhood obesity. The CATCH demonstration program has now been expanded to middle schools in Central Texas.

The Travis County CATCH Elementary and Middle School programs are funded by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

View Full Poster »