UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson warned that three times as many American children are overweight than 20 years ago, and urged the world to get moving, "literally."
Speaking at the United Nations summit on children in New York, Thompson said Wednesday the overall health of American children was improving, with fewer living in poverty and more vaccinated against measles, mumps and tetanus.
But "too many American children, and children throughout the industrialized world, are inactive. And the consequences are being found in deteriorating health for many children," Thompson said.
"We must get the world moving, literally. And we must begin with our children" he said.
Thompson also stressed the importance of promoting "healthy behaviors and right choices for young people," including sexual abstinence and close parent-child relationships.
As officials from 189 countries work on new strategies for protecting the world's youth, the United States is still at odds with other nations over family planning, children's rights, and "reproductive health" which some conservatives interpret as advocating abortion.
The three-day U.N. meeting was first scheduled Sept. 18, but was postponed because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
"The events of Sept. 11 make it even more essential that we gather here today for the sake of children around the world," Thompson said.