Obesity is a severe And increasingly severe Public health problem In the United States And across the world. In the U.S., roughly one-third of adults Are considered obese, by our current standards, And about 17 percent of children. And the prospects of this for what it will do In terms of health care, in terms of human longevity, Are of deep concern. So this is a very high priority, For the National Institutes of Health to address Presumably the reason that obesity is increasing So rapidly in the U.S. Is not because the gene pool has changed, It's because there's less exercise, In many situations, and thediet is increasingly One that predisposes, to weight gain. But exactly how to take that information And fold it together Into interventions is a critical part of what we need to do, We Can! Is an innovative program that reaches out To families, and communities, To try to tackle the problem of childhood obesity. It provides educational materials, For parents, in particular, To try to help them do the right thing, To reduce this risk for their kids. So that includes advice about diet, About exercise, and about decreasing The amount of time sitting in front of the television screen, Which is clearly a big contributor, To the current problem. 1,400 communities are now involved In this across the country. There are many other of these interventions That are being tested, by other agencies. We Can! is just one of them. But it's an example of how we're trying, right now, To move forward with interventions That we think might do something particularly for kids, That next generation, If we could prevent The epidemic of obesity That seems to be building all around us, In that generation a kids, We would save them a great deal of difficulty Downstream and save our whole society The costs of what that might mean.