Allison Diamant, a Center faculty associate and a UCLA associate adjunct professor of general internal medicine and health services research, is the lead author of the new policy brief,
Obesity and Diabetes: Two Growing Epidemics in California. Here she talks about some of the options and resources – including federal funding to build safe sidewalks as well as a soda "sin tax" – available to policymakers and communities to help stem the rising tide of both chronic conditions in their districts and neighborhoods.
Health experts talk about the “built environment” needing to change. The problem is, once it’s built, it’s fixed and thus expensive to change. What are the options for policymakers and communities?
The environment is expensive to change but I wouldn’t call it fixed. In poor areas there are often vacant lots that are overgrown and unused that have been underutilized for a long time. Those kinds of spaces can be repurposed into parks and playgrounds. Or they can provide a space for farmers markets.
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