Medindia LOGIN REGISTER
Medindia

West Virginia Organizes a Program to Fight Obesity

by Medindia Content Team on Jan 29 2007 12:35 PM

UniCare Health Plan of West Virginia announced that it is teaming up with Weight Watchers for a 16-week program aiming at weight loss courses to help fight obesity in more than 75000 people in the Mountain state.

The UniCare's Medicaid beneficiaries in West Virginia are eligible to take up this 16-week course from Weight Watchers, famous for its regular meetings and system of assigning points to different foods. This program is free, but participants must have a physician's approval.

This program is for adults and also for children aged 10 - 17. They must fit within certain criteria: for children, BMI score in the 85th percentile or above and for adults having BMI score of 25 or greater.

Officials hope that the program will improve the health of residents and also serve as a model for other states. West Virginia has the third largest population of overweight citizens in the nation. A similar program has been used in Tennessee.

Source-Medindia
SRI


Advertisement