Building Healthy Bodies, Minds & Spirits

U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona Offers a Vision of What We Must Do to Improve the Well-Being of America’s Children



By Bill Lindsay









Meet the Surgeon General

Read about the path that General Richard Carmona followed to the Surgeon General's office

As the nation’s chief health educator, Surgeon General Richard Carmona has his work cut out for him. There’s the obesity epidemic, childhood mental health issues, asthma and allergies, diabetes, sexually transmitted diseases among teens, and the perennial childhood injury hazards of cars, pools, bikes, guns and toxins in the home … the list goes on.


On the other hand, American children are doing pretty well in many areas of health these days, Carmona says during a recent interview in his Rockville, Md., office. “Immunization rates are not bad. Teen pregnancy seems to be leveling off or going down. Smoking is not where we want it, but at least it’s not increasing.”


The Surgeon General is both realistic and optimistic about improving public health in America. He’s adamant about the need to increase the public’s health literacy and he knows that solving many of the nation’s current health problems requires societal change – not something that comes quickly. Yet, that doesn’t temper his enthusiasm when he talks about improving public health, especially for kids.


“We know what we need to do,” he says with the no-bull demeanor of an ex-military man. “We just have to do it.”


In January, Carmona declared 2005 the “Year of the Healthy Child” to give priority to ensuring a healthier body, mind and spirit for American kids.


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