Factors affecting child obesity and ways to prevent it - Dissertation Example

From this definition it is clear that the efforts made are directed towards the community and not towards a particular individual. The public health practice relies upon the combination of science and social approaches and not on the knowledge or expertise. Therefore the definition of public health revolves around the central objective of improvement of health and reduction of disease from the community. In 1920 C.E.A. Winslow provided the definition of public health as follows: “Public health is the science and art of preventing disease, prolonginf life, and promoting physical health and efficiency through organized community efforts for the sanitation of the environment, the control of community infections, the education of the individuals in principles of personal hygiene, the organization of medical and nursing services for early diagnosis and preventive treatment of disease, and the development of social machinery which will ensure to every individual in the community a standard of living adequate for the maintenance of health” (Novick & Morrow, n.d., pp. 1-2). The population based strategy adopted to improve community health includes “efforts to control epidemics, ensure safe water and food, reduce vaccine- preventable disease, improve maternal and child health, and conduct surveillance of health problems” (Novick & Morrow, n.d., p. 2). Besides protecting the community from infectious and environmental health threats, the public health is also expanding in the areas to counter with the new and contemporary risks like “obesity adolescent pregnancy, injury, violence, substance abuse, sexually transmitted disease (STD), Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), natural disaster and bioterrorism” (Novick & Morrow, n.d., p. 2). There exists a.

This essay "Factors affecting child obesity and ways to prevent it" outlines the danger of obesity, how the different policies deal with this problem and reasons for this illness. Though the physical activity and the eating behavior is heavily influenced by the family but school also plays a major role in spreading awareness among the children and help to fight with obesity and overweight. The school cannot stop the obesity epidemic but can definitely bring about some changes by implementing some policies and programs.

The school should have a health coordinator who will be responsible for managing and coordinating all programs, policies and activities organized by the school. The school should also have a council for monitoring the health of the students. The schools should look towards a continuous development of the programs and activities. The school should look for implementing and strengthening the activities in the school. The school staff should be trained to promote awareness regarding health. The schools should have high quality course of study in health and physical education.

The school meal program should provide quality and nutritious food to the students. They should have healthy and appealing choice of beverages. The schools should encourage the students to participate in more and more activities (Wechsler et al, 2004, pp.5-10). “Children in South Cambridgeshire have a lowest plumpness total for a county with 6.2 per cent, followed by East Cambridgeshire with 6.8 per cent and Cambridge was second top with 8.4 per cent”.