Public Health Issue - Report Example

Public Health Issue [The of the will appear here] [The of the id will appear here] [The of the will appear here][The name of the course number will appear here] Abstract Obesity is a Public Health Issue that has not been tackled properly in the recent years which is leading to increase in obesity numbers. The main cause of obesity is improper diet and lack of physical exercise. The problem has severe impacts on both health and social aspects of the patients. In order to deal with this problem WHO recommends better awareness among the population and national policy of England asks for voluntary assistance from local businesses in help deal with the situation. The situation however is more severe and requires a stricter control that focuses on discouraging the growth of fast food restaurants and encourages healthy food options. Table of Contents 1. Introduction p. 3 1.1. Background p.3 1.2. Scope of the report p.4 1.3 Definitions p.4 2. Literature Review p.5 2.1. Cause of Obesity p.5 2.2.Effects of Obesity p.6 3. Obesity in England p.7 3.1. National Policy on Obesity p.7 3.2. WHO Recommendations/Directive for Obesity in England p.8 3.1. Evaluation of Obesity In England p.10 5. Recommendations p.11 6. Conclusion p.12 References p.13 Introduction Obesity is a growing health issue among both developed and underdeveloped countries. There has been an increase in the number of obese people according to most studies conducted on this topic. This has been attributed to a changing lifestyle in today’s community. While there are those who argue that obesity is not a public health issue, this report will work on the assumption that obesity is a public health issue considering the fact that increasing number of people are susceptible to this disease and this is the leading non-communicable disease that has led to an increase in mortality rate. The report aims to represent the problem of obesity, its causes and its effects. It will uncover the public policy in England with regard to obesity and the situation in England regarding obesity. Also recommendations developed by the World Health Organization would be discussed and finally recommendations specific to England would be presented. 1.1 Background In a recent article published by Paul Zollinger-Read in The Guardian, the writer sheds light on the fact that obesity is a growing problem that is increasing at an alarming rate and is offset by an increase in fast food restaurants around the world. This article further goes on to explain the despite the awareness that fast food is not healthy food, people continue to eat them as they present an easy and quick food option. I am interested in the issue as I am becoming increasing concerned about the food intake of the world. While malnutrition is growing throughout the world, this is another kind of malnutrition that is leading to bigger health issues such as high cholesterol, diabetes, heart diseases, cancer, increase in mortality rate and osteoarthritis. Fast food consumption is not the only contributor to this health issue, there are other problems as well such as low physical activity and excessive food intake combined with hereditary traits. I am particularly interested in this disease because it is one of the leading preventable diseases that are contributing to increasing death rates in not just adults but also children. 1.2 Scope of the Report This report will discuss the negative implications of obesity. It will look at obesity prevalent in England and how national policy and WHO recommendations and directives are contributing to a healthier society in terms of the obesity issue. The report will lastly provide recommendations taking into account the condition prevalent in England. 1.3. Definitions Before moving further, it is important to provide definitions for the important terms discussed in the paper. These being: Obesity: Obesity is termed as a medical condition where a human body gains excessive body fat. Obesity is calculated most commonly through the BMI (Emerson, 2005). BMI: The BMI is the weight of a person divided by the height square of the person. People having a BMI equivalent to 30 or more are characterized as obese while those having a BMI of 25 or above are characterized as overweight (Emerson, 2005). Literature Review Obesity is one of leading non-communicable disease that has one of the highest mortality rates. It is calculated through the body mass index; that is, those having a high body mass index that 25 are characterized as overweight and those having a body mass index of above 30 are characterized as obese. 2.1 Causes of Obesity There are known to be two main causes of obesity: ‘excessive calorie intake and/or inadequate calorie expenditure through activity’ (Birmingham and Treasure, 2010) In the recent years, there has been a change in the lifestyle of most people. A number of changes in the lifestyle have led to the increasing prevalence of obesity. Some of the causes of obesity are: 1. Lack of Physical Exercise: the increasing dependence on machines such as cars has led to a lack of physical exercise. Internet has made everything more accessible, people do not have to go shopping; everything is delivered at the doorstep. Such lifestyle changes have made people focus less on physical exercise and more on commercially advertised weight loss programs. 2. Increase in Unhealthy Food Choices: Changing lifestyle have led to strong increase in consuming unhealthy food. This issue has been magnified as a result of increase in fast food restaurants that have opened up in every corner of the world. They present an easy and cheap food option. People going back from offices and schools are tempted to buy fast food that increase calorie consumption but do not provide a healthy food option. 3. Changing Patterns of Eating: There has also been a change in the pattern of consumption. With life becoming more hectic and fast, people often skip off breakfast altogether. They eat small unhealthy meals instead of proper food. 2.2. Effects of Obesity Obesity tends to have several detrimental impacts on the health of a person. The known direct effects of obesity are ‘cardiovascular related disorders, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, multiple cancers, gall bladder disease, osteoarthritis, asthma, sleep apnea and depression’ (James and Linton, 2009). With these medical impacts of obesity, the disease leads to a direct increase in health costs. With health costs ever increasing, there are those who continue to argue that obesity is not a public issue and counting it as a public issue with lead to increase in taxes. According to report by Suturm, 2002, ‘it has been suggested that obesity increases health care costs 36 percent and medications costs 77 percent’. Another effect of obesity is on the social life of the patient. Obese people find it difficult to maintain healthy relationships. They have difficulties in finding partners and are often bullied because of their weight issues. Remarks about weight issues are common from family and friends which increases the risk of more problems such as depression and isolation. 3. Obesity in England 3.1. National Policy on Obesity Obesity is a growing problem in England as 61.3% of the adults and 30% of the children are either overweight or obese. Direct and indirect costs associated with obesity account for 5 billion pounds of health care costs annually as estimated by NHS. The government has therefore set an objective of decreasing the weight of both adults and children and inculcating a consistent trend among children by 2020 (Rennie and Jebb, 2005). In order to achieve these objectives, the national policy is aimed at increasing physical activity among the population and also inculcating a healthier nutrition intake. For this, the government has taken four main steps: Introducing the Change 4 Life Programme that provides guidance for improved food intake and physical activity; Introducing labeling on products so that people can make informed decisions when buying food items; Encouraging high street food businesses to include in their menus a calorie information of the food being sold; Providing advice on proper physical exercise and the importance of such exercise. The government has also introduced the Public Health Responsibility Deal that tackles four areas of the issues: alcohol consumption, food intake, health at work and physical activity. The deal partners with local businesses and organizations to improve on the problem of obesity. It improves healthy living through the following actions: Listing calorie information on the menus; Reducing the content of certain unhealthy ingredients in the food such as salt and fat; Reducing portion size of the food offered at restaurants; Encouraging more intakes of fruits and vegetables (Gov.uk, 2013). 3.2. WHO Recommendations/ Directions for Obesity in England World Health Organization has developed t three approaches to dealing with obesity: universal prevention, targeted prevention and selective prevention. Universal prevention focus on the entire population, targeted and selective prevention focus on the high risk profile people. All these strategies have three basic aims: increase physical activity, modification in diet and change in daily habits and thoughts. To achieve this aim, the WHO has set six action plans: ‘supporting a healthy start, ensuring safe, healthy and sustainable food supply; providing comprehensive information and education to consumers; carrying out integrated actions to address related determinants; strengthening nutrition and food safety in the health sector; and monitoring and evaluation’ (World Health Organization, 2008). The first action plan, supporting a healthy start, focuses on babies and children. WHO recommends that children should be provided proper nutrition from their fetal ages. This requires proper intake of food by the mothers and raising awareness regarding healthy eating. Babies should also be breastfed exclusively for six months as this reduces their chances of developing obesity later on in life. Children should also be taught healthy eating in their schools. A proper diet according to WHO should take into account the calorie intake and the nature of food consumed. The daily energy intake recommended by WHO should contain less than 10 per cent saturated fatty acids, less than 1 percent trans fatty acids, less than 10 percent free sugars and less than 5 grams of salt. The focus should be on consuming fruits and vegetables and the desired daily intake should be more than 400 grams (World Health Organization, 2008). The government here should focus on increasing the supply of foods and vegetables to the country. Also public institutes such as child care services should improve the nutritional quality of their food. Improving supply of healthy foods also requires that the government should ensure that people with low socio-economic backgrounds also have proper accessibility to healthy nutritious food. In order to improve awareness of healthy eating among consumers, the government should initiate campaigns focused on healthy food intake. They should educate consumers about proper eating. Also the government should initiate an integrated approach where they take into account different factors such as intake of alcohol, and lack of physical activities when developing action plans. Finally while focusing on all the above action plans, the government should also monitor and evaluate the impact of their programs on the population. They can do this by conducting research and establishing surveillance system. 3.3. Evaluation of Obesity in England In the recent years, obesity has increased in England. According to Sir John Bourn, 2005, one of five adults in England is obese. This number had trebled since the last two decades. Furthermore, the statistics reveal that half of the women and two-thirds of the men are either overweight or obese in England. The financial implication of these statistics on the economy account to around 3 billion pounds annually and the treatment costs incurred by NHS annually amount to half a billion pounds. The implications on the health of the country include 30,000 deaths annually and 18 million sick days a year. 4. Directives/ Recommendations At this point of time, most of the steps taken to combat obesity are mostly voluntary in nature. The government and the WHO have not launched policies to combat the issue but rather they enlist the support of local communities and businesses. However, the problem is growing at a rapid pace and needs to be given serious attention. The following recommendations are proposed for the prevention and management of obesity: 1. Limitation on the number of fast food restaurants. The government should impose a stricter control on fast food restaurants. This should include healthy food and listing of calorie information mandatory in the menus. 2. Limiting the availability of soft drinks and increasing the price of soft drinks. At this point of time, soft drinks are cheaper than bottled water and thus consumers tend to prefer soft drinks which increases the risk of obesity; 3. Instituting healthy food within public institutes such as public schools, local community centers, child welfare organizations, public hospitals etc.; 4. Developing Public Campaigns aimed at increasing awareness with regards to obesity and its impacts and later monitoring the impact of these campaigns on the public; 5. Closely monitoring the placement of fast food restaurants and vending machines to limit their access to the general public and specifically young children; 6. Encouraging the opening of healthy food restaurants and food chains by providing incentives and tax rebates to such companies; 7. At this point of time, prescription drugs that combat obesity are not included in this report since their impact and side effects is still not properly evaluated. 5. Conclusion In conclusion, it can be said the obesity is one of the most pressing public health issues that England and other developed countries are facing. It is rising with the increase in unhealthy diet habits and lack of physical exercises. It is recommended that the government take strict action right now before the problem escalates further. References Birmingham, L., and Treasure, J., 2010, Medical Management of Eating Disorders, London: Cambridge University Press Bourn, J., 2001, Tackling Obesity in England, National Audit Office,  Annual report of the Chief Medical Officer 2002. http://www.nao.org.uk/report/tackling-obesity-in-england/ [Accessed 9 July, 2013] Emerson, E, 2005, Underweight, obesity and exercise among adults with intellectual disabilities in supported accommodation in Northern England, Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 134-143 Gov.uk, 2013, Policy: Reducing obesity and improving diet, Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/reducing-obesity-and-improving-diet [Accessed 9 July, 2013] James, L and Linton, J., 2012, Handbook of Obesity Intervention for the Lifespan, USA: Springer Publication Rennie, K. and Jebb, S., 2005, Prevalence of obesity in Great Britain, Obesity Reviews, Volume 6, Issue 1, pages 11–12 Sturm, R. (2002, The Effects Of Obesity, Smoking, And Drinking On Medical Problems And Costs10.1377/hlthaff.21.2.245Health Aff March 2002 vol. 21no. 2 245-253 World Health Organization (2008) WHO European Action Plan for Food and Nutrition Policy 2007-2012, Retrieved from http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/74402/E91153.pdf [Accessed 9 July, 2013] Zollinger-Read, P., 2013, Is it time fast food restaurants became more responsible?, The Guardian, Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/time-fast-food-became-responsible?INTCMP=SRCH [Accessed 8 July, 2013] Read More