OCAN Letter to Ambassador Susan Rice Requesting Meeting with Domestic Policy Council

Thank you for your role in convening the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in September. On behalf of the Obesity Care Advocacy Network (OCAN), we would like to request a meeting with the Domestic Policy Council to discuss how your office plans to monitor and support regulatory changes, executive orders, and other administrative actions to maximize implementation of the National Strategy and how we can best partner in support of this work.

Founded in 2015, OCAN is a diverse group of organizations focused on changing how we perceive and approach obesity in the U.S. OCAN works to increase access to evidence-based obesity treatments by uniting key stakeholders and the broader obesity community around significant education, policy and legislative efforts. As you know, the obesity epidemic is one of the most serious health equity issues impacting our country, affecting over 42% of adults and over 19% of children. Alarming new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that 19 states and two territories have an obesity prevalence at or above 35%, which has more than doubled in the last five years.

OCAN has a broad range of policy priorities to address the obesity epidemic which include broader access to obesity treatment and care; combating health disparities and inequities; support of obesity prevention programs; and working to fight stigma and weight bias. We are grateful that many of these priorities were reflected in the National Strategy and are eager to help ensure they are implemented.