National Bone Health Campaign Is Underway

[Kuester, Sarah]

Please pardon the cross-posting.

Due to the September 11th tragedy, the National Bone Health Campaign (NBHC)
had a soft launch September 13th without a press event. The goal of the
campaign is to educate and encourage girls ages 9-12 to establish lifelong
healthy habits to build and maintain strong bones.  The campaign is a
partnership of the DHHS Office on Women's Health, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, and the National Osteoporosis Foundation.  A summary
of the campaign is provided below. Campaign materials can be ordered from
powerfulbones at cdc.gov.

For questions about the campaign please contact Anita Blankenship at
ABlankenship at cdc.gov or at 770-488-5680.  
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National Bone Health Campaign
Powerful Bones. Powerful Girls.TM

About the National Bone Health Campaign

The National Bone Health Campaign (NBHC), Powerful Bones. Powerful Girls,™
is a multi-year national campaign to promote optimal bone health in girls
9-12 years old, and thus reduce their risk of osteoporosis later in life.
The goal is to educate and encourage girls to establish lifelong healthy
habits, especially increased calcium consumption and physical activity, to
build and maintain strong bones.  An umbrella for other bone health
activities, the campaign involves a strong network of federal, state, and
community organizations to reach girls where they live and play.  

Girls who eat more foods with calcium and participate in weight-bearing
physical activities develop stronger, denser bones, a concept associated in
the minds of girls with being powerful inside and out.  Parents and other
adults close to girls play an important role in encouraging girls to take
action.  Campaign messages and materials featuring Carla (a spokes-character
whose name means strong) have been produced to encourage girls and to help
parents help their daughters.  This integrated marketing and communication
campaign has the following elements:

*	Paid print and radio advertising for girls and parents.  For the
first phase of the campaign, advertisements for girls appear in Sports
Illustrated for Kids, Girl’s Life, All About You and Disney Adventures, as
well as on Radio Disney.  Parent advertisements appear in Family Circle,
Ladies’ Home Journal, and Essence, and on Radio Disney. 

*	Radio Disney Live World Tour 2001.  The campaign is taking part in
Radio Disney’s eight-city tour, with opportunities to expose girls to
campaign messages and materials in a festival-like atmosphere.  The tour is
scheduled to stop in the following cities during 2001: Chicago, August 25;
Philadelphia, September 1; New York, September 8; Boston, September 15;
Dallas, September 22; Atlanta, September 29; San Francisco, October 7; and
Los Angeles, October 13.

*	Web site for girls [www.cdc.gov/powerfulbones].  This fun and
engaging site helps girls become more powerful and build powerful bones.
Girls who visit the site learn easy ways to get more calcium and be more
active, while applying the information with their own sense of style. 
*	
*	A calendar for girls and parents.  The colorful calendar allows
girls to track their calcium intake and physical activity, with their
parents’ input.  The calendar includes physical activity and eating tips,
snack ideas, and recipes to help girls increase their calcium consumption
and physical activity levels, as well as stickers to reward their progress. 

*	Parent Web content.  The campaign will develop parent-oriented Web
content for placement on sites that are popular with mothers, fathers, and
families.
*	
*	Collaboration with the Girl Scouts of the USA.  The Girl Scouts have
unparalleled reach into a multitude of neighborhoods - and they know how to
reach girls in ways that make a difference.  The NBHC is supporting their
efforts to engage Girl Scouts in bone-health activities throughout the
country.

Founding partners and their roles in the campaign
Office on Women's Health (OWH), Department of Health and Human Services 
<http://www.4woman.gov/owh/>
The Office on Women's Health, which serves as the government’s focal point
on women’s health issues, provides funding to the National Bone Health
Campaign, as well as treatment and prevention research, and direction for
media outreach activities.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Health and
Human Services 
<http://www.cdc.gov/> 
CDC provides epidemiology expertise, consumer research, and direction for
communication and marketing activities related to the campaign.
National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF)
<http://www.nof.org/>
The NOF, as the leading nonprofit voluntary organization dedicated to
promoting lifelong bone health, lends the campaign its expertise on the
subject of osteoporosis, and provides the campaign with guidance on media
issues.