100% (1)
Pages:
3 pages/≈825 words
Sources:
3
Style:
APA
Subject:
Literature & Language
Type:
Essay
Language:
English (U.S.)
Document:
MS Word
Date:
Total cost:
$ 10.8
Topic:

The Public Needs to Know

Essay Instructions:

The state school board chairperson has asked you (a consultant on health and wellness) to write an informative paper about the recent changes to the breakfast and lunch programs to improve nutrition and health. The content will be turned into an informative handout for parents describing the four (4) major issues: economic situation, special needs (e.g., health) of the population being served, process, and benefits of the program.

Essay Sample Content Preview:
The Public Needs to Know
Student:
Professor:
Course title:
Date:
The Public Needs to Know
Recently, the government has made dramatic changes to the breakfast and lunch programs to improve nutrition and health. These alters in school meals include limiting calories, French fries and sodium and giving the students more vegetables and fruits. The four major issues described in this informative paper are economic situation, special needs such as health of the population being served, process of the program and its benefits.
Economic situation
Presently, schools get $2.72 from the national government for each child on the free lunch program. It is noteworthy that schools which would satisfy the new standards and abide by the directive will receive an extra 6 cents for every meal, thus adding about $1.5 billion over 5 years if every school meets the directive immediately. Schools will have to stretch limited food-service finances and they will need to trim down in other areas; all this is for the benefit of children (Hellmich, 2011). When the program takes effect fully, schools will have to meet the new standards in order for them to receive reimbursement from the federal government on school meals.
The cost of inaction is substantial. Obesity leads to diabetes, cancer, heart disease and other grave illnesses. It is of note that obesity adds roughly $150 billion annually to the federal healthcare costs, nearly half of which are paid by American tax-payers by means of Medicaid and Medicare (Wootan, 2013). The United States Department of Agriculture anticipates that the execution of this program may increase total costs by about $3.2 billion or 8% over 5 years. Over the next 5 years, implementing this program will bring an extra $7.2 billion in revenue to school service accounts and would lead to more than 850,000 additional children taking part in the school meal program (Wootan, 2013).
Special needs of the population being served
In the United States today, 25 million children – roughly ⅓ of adolescents and children – are overweight or obese. Extra weight essentially puts a child at an increased risk of getting high cholesterol, high blood pressure as well as type 2 diabetes and other serious health conditions (Hellmich, 2011). In 2005, an analysis revealed that at present, children might lead shorter lives by 2 to 5 years compared to their parents because of obesity. The new standards of school meal are meant to improve the health of about 11 million children across the United States who eat breakfast at school on a daily basis and more than 32 million who eat lunch. In general, children consume roughly 30 percent to 50 percent of...
Updated on
Get the Whole Paper!
Not exactly what you need?
Do you need a custom essay? Order right now:
Sign In
Not register? Register Now!