The Obesity Statistics of the UK - Essay Example

?The Obesity Issue in the UK Introduction A look into the obesity statistics of UK reveals frightening information. NHS repots based on a study that if the present trend continues, by 2030, nearly 48% of all men and 43% women in England will be obese, and this will mean an additional of 2 million pounds per year spent on obesity related diseases (“Half of UK obese by 2030”). Supporting this report is the evidence from the Statistics on obesity, physical activity and diet: England, 2011I issued by NHS. The study reveals that in 2009, nearly 22% men and 24% women were obese, and 66% men and 57% women were overweight. Even worse is the prevalence of obesity in children. According to the report (NHS, 2011), in 2009, about 31% boys and 28% girls were either overweight or obese. Now, one thing becomes evident. The steps taken so far by the authorities to control obesity have gone astray. It is highly necessary to adopt newer strategies to tackle the issue of obesity. It is at this juncture that Lindsey Davies, President of FPH, opined that law must be used to fight obesity. The strategy adopted In Healthy Weight, healthy lives: a cross-government strategy for England, Prime Minister Gordon Brown states that the aim of the nation is to be the first nation to reverse the trend of obesity, and it wants to have the initial focus on children. The immediate plans in the new strategy include identifying at-risk families as early as possible and plans to promote breastfeeding as the norm for mothers, giving better information to parents about their children’s health by providing parents with their child’s results from the National Child Measurement Programme, ensuring that all schools have cooking as a part of the curriculum, ensuring healthy lunch box policies for all children, ensuring PE participation of all obese children, encouraging parents to make necessary changes in the diet and physical activities of their children, and improving cycling infrastructure and skills (ibid). The new policy built on the existing ones It is alarming to note that despite the measures, the rate of obesity is on increase. So, the new policy aims to incorporate both law and technology to ensure that people strictly follow the health guidelines. The new strategy involves ensuring physical activity for all children at school, ensuring less fat diet at school, and restricting TV watching hours of families based on the number of obese people at home. So, evidently, the article will aim at all people in the U.K. For parents, it will provide a better insight into how to handle their children and the benefits of the strategies, the law-makers and health professionals will get an idea on how the strategy the nation has adopted can be effectively implemented and for children, this article will function as warning. In order for the new health policy to be effective, it is necessary to introduce a number of new initiatives. The first initiative is to implement the rule that primary schools should have two hours of compulsory physical activity time everyday when the activity will be running. In addition, every school will have a swimming pool and one hour swimming will be must for each student. The second rule will be that schools will be providing lunch to students and it will contain items that are suggested by the health department from time to time. The third initiative is regarding the TV watching hours of people. Every family will be getting a health card on which the number of obese children will be indicated. Such families will not be provided any channels other than news channels on public holidays and times when children are usually at home. Health officials will visit such homes on a bimonthly basis. It will be made compulsory for the children from such families to spend at least two hours in gymnasiums everyday. As the families manage to reduce the overweight problem, they will be gradually allowed to have access to television. Admittedly, this initiative will not solve the problem in a few days, and evidently, it requires the cooperation and collaboration of a large number of people to become successful. First of all, parents must encourage their children to adopt healthy eating habits and physical exercises. In addition, they should be able to keep their children from watching television for long hours. Secondly, school authorities should be ready to impose strict rules regarding diet and exercise. They should work in collaboration with health officials to ensure that the two hour physical activity is implemented properly. Thirdly, the health officials should be willing to oversee the activities and to work in collaboration with various gymnasiums. There is the need for a team of health officials to visit homes with obese children and to monitor their progress frequently. As it has become evident from history that simple persuasion will not yield the required result, it has become necessary to adopt this new strategy that incorporates technology and law. With this new policy that is backed by government law, children will become compelled to follow the rules as a part of their curriculum. In other words, the benefit of this strategy is that as obesity-reducing measures are incorporated in the curriculum, all the children who get education will become a part of the program, and there will be no exemption unless there is a physical or mental disability. Moreover, the strategy is beneficial not only for the obese children but also for all children. The beauty of this policy is that it does not require huge additional investment for its success as it only requires the existing infrastructure. For example, all schools have playgrounds, and if they do not have, it is easy for them to have access to one. In addition, visiting homes with obese children can be a part of the job of Health Nurses. The only expenditure involved will be ensuring swimming pool access for all schools. However, considering the great benefit involved, it is worth trying. If these steps are adopted properly, in two years time, most of the school going children will not be obese, and in addition, they all will be healthy and active. A suitable heading for this article will be ‘Incorporating technology and law to tackle obesity: a school based approach’. References ‘Half of UK obese by 2030’, 26 August, 2011, NHS Choices, Viewed 17 October, 2011, ‘Healthy weight, healthy lives: A cross-government strategy for England’, 2008, HM Government, Crown, Viewed 17 October, 2011, NHS: The Information Center for Health and Social Care 2011, ‘Statistics on obesity, physical activity and diet: England, 2011’, The Health and Social Care Information, Viewed 17 October, 2011, Read More