Across the nation, local, state, territorial, and tribal governments are engaged in successful efforts to protect and promote the health of their citizens by supporting healthy eating and active living initiatives. The ten essential services define a role for public health at multiple levels of influence (see Table 1). These functions provide a framework for obesity prevention that is consistent with the systems approach presented by the Institute of Medicine in “Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention.”

Governmental public health authorities can contribute to public health efforts to address obesity by monitoring prevalence of obesity and association risk factors, investigating the contributing factors, informing the public, and work with the citizens in their jurisdiction to develop solutions that fit the needs and sensibilities of the people.