Table.

Projected prevalence of childhood obesity among Georgia children and adolescents aged ≤18 in 2034, by policy enacted^a

Policy Intervention	Projected Prevalence of Obesity in 2034, %
No policy change	18
Physical education
Mandate daily physical education in grades K-12	12
Implement enhanced physical educationb in  existing physical education classes	16
Mandate daily enhanced physical educationb in  grades K-12	9
Incorporate moderate to vigorous physical activity  into classroom activities in grades K-5	10
Recess
Mandate 20 min/d of recess in grades K-5	18
Implement modified recessc in existing recess	16
Mandate 20 min/d of modified recess in grades K-5	16
After-school programs
Provide after-school programs for all children	17
Require existing after-school programs to include  a physical activity component	17
Provide after-school programs for all who want to  participate and require all programs to  have a physical activity component	16
Require existing preschool programs to provide  quality physical activity and nutrition  components	16
Increase proportion of students who can safely  walk or bike to school	16
Require all food served in school cafeteria lines to  meet the USDA School Nutrition Guidelines	16
Provide Medicaid reimbursement for medical  nutrition therapy counseling for overweight and  obese children	17
Increase the prevalence of “any breastfeeding at  6 months” to 60.6%, a Healthy People 2020  objective17	16
All of the above policies	3

Abbreviations: K, kindergarten; USDA, US Department of Agriculture.

^aProjections by a systems thinking model developed by the Georgia Health Policy Center at Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and its academic and health policy partners in 2008 and updated in 2014 as part of an educational initiative to help Georgia legislators develop skills to better understand and manage complex health issues.

^bEnhanced physical education refers to spending a minimum of 50% of physical education time in moderate to vigorous physical activity.

^cModified recess refers to improving physical activity opportunities during recess by providing playground equipment (eg, slides, swing sets), markings on the playground surface (eg, hopscotch, 4-square, number grid), and equipment that encourages physical activity (eg, balls, Frisbees, hula hoops).¹⁵