Tackling city's obesity problem
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, no state had an obesity rate higher than 20% in 1995. In 2011, the Journal Sentinel reported that 27.4% of Wisconsin adults are obese. This made Wisconsin the 25th most-obese state in the country, and while one could attempt to argue that our standing isn't terrible given the fact that it technically makes the state average relative to the entire country, the statistic is still not something to boast about.
Moreover, the same study, conducted by Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, revealed that Wisconsin has the highest rate of obesity in African-American adults, at an alarming 45.8%. Couple this with the 2010 U.S. census data that showed a vast majority of Wisconsin's African-Americans live in Milwaukee, and, further, that Milwaukee is the most-segregated city in America, and it becomes obvious where the problem of obesity is the most concentrated.
So, beyond reporting statistics and reading about ourselves in the newspaper, Milwaukee residents need to take serious action where the city needs it most.
Please read on by Bethel Assefa
http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/assefa11-ci9doc4-202405581.html
