Well, this is rich...

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commits $500 Million to Combat Childhood Obesity (4/05/07)

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey, has announced that it will commit at lleast $500 million [yes, half a billion dollars] over the next five years to tackle childhood obesity.

To try to reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States by 2015, the foundation will focus on improving access to affordable healthy foods and opportunities for safe physical activity in schools and communities....

"Individual choice and behavior are important, but the world we live in plays a big role, too," said RWJF president and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey. "We have to make it easier for kids to eat well and move more. That means more parks and safe places for kids to play, more grocery stores that stock affordable fresh produce, and improved school policies on nutrition and physical education. With this new commitment, we hope to foster more of these changes that will make it easier for families to raise healthy kids."

See this page for the full scoop.

Hey, I lost 30 lbs living here for a year and a half; coulda been more but i was trying to keep my weight up. Maybe we could export matooke and poosho? Or market the protein-free, food-valueless, "Uganda Diet™"? Anyway, too bad we don't have any fat kids here. Half a $billion would buy us a lot of tomatoes and avocadoes, at 5¢ each!