Birds Eye and Novo Nordisk to Sponsor Partnership for a Healthier America’s Building a Healthier Future Summit
Companies join experts from government, industry and academia to address the childhood obesity epidemic
Washington, D.C.—The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), which works with the private sector to end the childhood obesity crisis, today announced that Novo Nordisk and Birds Eye have signed on as sponsors of the 2013 Building a Healthier Future Summit, held March 6 to 8, 2013, at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C.
Novo Nordisk, a global healthcare company with a 90-year legacy of innovation and leadership focus on the prevention, treatment and, ultimately, cure for diabetes, and Birds Eye, a PHA partner carrying out successful efforts to help empower kids to enjoy their vegetables, will support the Summit as national sponsors. They join PHA hosts and honorary vice chairs, the Honorable Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark, NJ and the Honorable William H. Frist, M.D., former US Senate Majority Leader, in facilitating open and honest dialogue among summit participants that explores new strategies, rethinks current programs, and pushes innovation to a transformative level seeking to improve children’s health.
“PHA’s mission is to work with the private sector in the fight to end childhood obesity in America. As sponsors ofPHA’s Building a Healthier Future Summit, Birds Eye and Novo Nordisk are showing great leadership by taking action in the fight for our children’s health,” said Lawrence A. Soler, PHA President and CEO. “We look forward to working together with them and all the organizations supporting PHA’s efforts on ways to tackle this crisis with a sense of urgency, and through creative partnerships and activities.”
“Together with PHA, Birds Eye is committed to empowering and inspiring kids and families to enjoy more vegetables more often,” said Sally Genster Robling, president of Birds Eye. “We went straight to the source and asked kids what they think about fresh vegetables in frozen form and invited them to help us create new veggie products. This year, we’re excited to launch those products and continue helping American families serve nutritious and tasty meals with Birds Eye vegetables.”
“Looking at the overall health of our country’s young people is critical, especially as more children are coming down with serious diseases like type 2 diabetes. This summit offers the healthcare community a chance toidentify and highlight possible solutions to address this significant, negative trend,” said Jerzy Gruhn, President, Novo Nordisk Inc. “Diabetes is costing the US more than $200 billion each year, and it will continue to drain our economy and the health of future generations if we don’t take serious actions to curb this epidemic.”
The inaugural Building a Healthier Future Summit, a sold-out event held in November 2011, brought together leaders from industry, non-profit, government, philanthropic and academic organizations. In 2013, PHA is expanding the Summit to include more attendees; breakouts focused on solving the problem – not just talking about it; an exhibition hall; a new twist on last year’s Great American Family Dinner Challenge; a brand new Innovation Challenge; and much more. For more information, visit www.ahealthieramerica.org/summit.
The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) is devoted to working with the private sector to ensure the health of our nation’s youth by solving the childhood obesity crisis. In 2010, PHA was created in conjunction with – but independent from – First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! effort. PHA is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that is led by some of the nation’s most respected health and childhood obesity experts. PHA brings together public,private and nonprofit leaders to broker meaningful commitments and develop strategies to end childhood obesity. Most important, PHA ensures that commitments made are commitments kept by working with unbiased third parties to monitor and publicly report on the progress our partners are making. For more information about PHA, please visit www.aHealthierAmerica.org and follow PHA on Twitter @PHAnews.
Novo Nordisk, the world’s leader in delivering innovative diabetes medicines, will be the National Sponsor of the Building a Healthier Future Summit. With a 90-year legacy committed to defeating diabetes, Novo Nordisk also aims to raise awareness in the critical areas of diabetes prevention, detection and treatment across the generations as an active participant in discussing and creating solutions that improve overall health. For more information about Novo Nordisk, please visit www.novonordisk-us.com.
Birds Eye®, a PHA partner and leading producer of vegetables, will be the National Sponsor of the Building a Healthier Future Summit. Birds Eye® is on a mission to inspire the next generation of vegetable lovers by becoming the first company to go straight to the source, kids, to change the conversation about veggies. As a pioneer of frozen vegetables, Birds Eye knows it’s how you make the meal that matters. Birds Eye’s heritage, quality, taste and variety can make the dinnertime difference. With more than 40 unique vegetables offered and countless ways to enjoy them, from pure and simple vegetable favorites to sauced and seasoned sides and steamed varieties, Birds Eye gives consumers limitless possibilities to complete the meal with vegetables every day. For more information about Birds Eye, please visit www.birdseye.com.