This issue of Northwest Public Health has a great cover photo, but what do healthy kids of all races hanging out together have to do with obesity prevention? Everything, really. The photo evokes a vision of a time when obesity will not be the major public health concern for current and future generations that it is today. It suggests that interventions to prevent obesity must target the conditions into which children are born and in which they live, attend school, and play. It recognizes the crucial importance of early nutrition for future health and reflects the reality that we all live in a socioeconomic structure that influences our options for healthy choices.

The articles in this issue present a strong case that we can create healthy communities for everyone, but to do so we need to broaden our focus beyond individual behavior to the social, economic, and physical frameworks that support and encourage healthy lives. We have to discard ideologies that ignore the inextricable link between social and political contexts and individual action.

Obesity prevention crosses all aspects of life—from human biology to global marketing—and almost every aspect can be addressed through policy interventions. In fact, the time is ripe for broad collaboration across agencies and communities to insert a health focus into policies ranging from transportation to agriculture. The Washington State Local Farms, Healthy Kids bill, signed in April by Governor Gregoire, is an example of such policies. The bill envisions more farm-fresh, locally grown food in schools, food banks, and other community institutions. The combined focus on schools, the environment, the health of kids, and support of small businesses created common ground and widespread support that bridged traditional divides between environment, education, public health, and agriculture sectors.

In this issue, three guest editors from the UW School of Public Health and Community Medicine—Laura C. Streichert, Donna B. Johnson, and Adam Drewnowski—bring their expertise in obesity prevention to consider the social determinants of obesity and the intermediate factors that must be addressed to stem the rising obesity rates. Their lead article highlights some of the current and emerging areas of focus for obesity prevention.

A common theme throughout the issue is a focus on environmental and policy-level change through practical, evidence-based interventions targeted to populations most in need. Several articles stress the importance of early nutrition (Adams and Bagby), the disparity in food costs (Drewnowski and Monsivais), and the costly effects of food insecurity (Curtis). Sitaker and Brandt outline a training program to bring about a fundamental shift in approach to doing public health work at the state level, and articles by West and MacDougall and Valenzuela demonstrate just how effective a county health department can be when working across agencies to bring health issues into neighborhood planning. But policy plays out in the lives of individuals, and articles by Manhas, Sutherland and Weiler, and Baehr picture the results of systemic interventions to enhance communities’ capacity to create healthy environments. Finally, Bekemeier reminds us that public health nursing has a long history of working to improve environmental conditions and still has work to do.

As these articles show, preventing obesity has to start early and reach far beyond individual weight loss plans, if we are to create that world reflected in our cover photo. We owe no less to those kids.

Aaron Katz, Editor-in-Chief
Director, Packard-Gates Population Leadership Program
UW School of Public Health and Community Medicine