Mercer Health and Benefits LLC and Kurbo Health have formed an alliance provide employers with a proven mobile health coaching and weight loss program created specifically for kids, teens and families. The alliance will combine Mercer’s health benefits consulting capabilities and market reach with Kurbo Health’s platform, which combines ease of a mobile app with the proven science of the Stanford’s Pediatric Weight Control Program to help shape healthy eating and physical activity among children and families.
Mercer/Kurbo Alliance Details
The Mercer/Kurbo alliance will help employers assist employees and their families in reducing childhood obesity, thereby empowering healthier families while also reducing healthcare costs. Childhood obesity affects one in three children in the United States, and its impact on children and their health is clear such as increased risk for heart disease and diabetes. Less well known are the effects of childhood obesity on families and their employers, which include higher health care costs, decreased productivity at work and increased family stress.
The Kurbo platform consists of three components:
– an intelligent mobile app that tracks food and activity and provides nutrition and exercise education
– a sophisticated automated feedback system facilitating real-time healthy food decisions
– one-to-one support from well-trained coaches who are paired to best suit to the child’s personality and interests
“Our alliance with Mercer is a major milestone for Kurbo Health that will enable employers to change the trajectory of kids’ lives through our holistic, educational and motivational approach to family weight loss and healthy living,” said Joanna Strober, Founder and CEO of Kurbo Health in a press release. “With Kurbo, 88 percent of children reduce their BMI and maintain this reduced BMI 12 months later. We also see that 55 percent of parents lose weight, and more than 80 percent of parents say their family has adopted healthier habits and stress has decreased.”
Launched in July 2014, the Kurbo app has been downloaded by more than 50,000 people and helped thousands of children and teens get healthy and lose weight through the coaching program. A recent Kurbo pilot study showed that 88 percent of children reduced their BMI at a healthy rate after using Kurbo coaching and its mobile app. These children reported higher levels of happiness, self-confidence and self-esteem.
