IOM Partners Develop New National Campaign Tackling the Obesity Crisis

As obesity continues to diminish the quality of people's lives and raise health care costs, the Institute of Medicine is pleased to join HBO, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and Kaiser Permanente in developing "The Weight of the Nation," a new national campaign tackling the obesity crisis.

The Weight of the Nation will shed new light on the facts and myths of this urgent public health issue and explore how obesity is impacting our nation and the health care system. This multipronged project will feature a series of four documentary films, a three-part HBO Family series, 14 bonus short films, a social media campaign, a companion book, and a nationwide community-based outreach campaign. The four-part documentary series -- which HBO announced will air May 14 and 15 -- and other facets of the initiative were developed with expert input from IOM as well as CDC and NIH.

Read the full news release on the IOM website.