The Prevalence of Childhood Obesity in London Borough of Lambeth - Essay Example

Urban Health By MAIN FOCUS The prevalence of Childhood obesity in London borough of Lambeth Introduction This work is manly based on obesity in children with the main focus area being the London borough of Lambeth. The paper mainly seeks to explain the reality of the issue by focusing on the proportion of the population of the borough in question affected by childhood obesity. The rationale shows vividly the reason for raising eye brows on the issue about childhood obesity with clear evidence drawn from the existing epidemiological data in the health records that supports the seriousness of the study. This work provides the urban coverage showing the major aspects of the obesity in children its impacts on the victims citing how it affects the children normal life in the health context and their social life and then the impacts of health issue to the general population in the London borough of Lambeth it further gives the general overview of the whole of London city citing the comparable details between the focus borough and the whole city ,this is by giving an estimate data of some of the epidemic in the other boroughs in London city. This work also explains the strategies and interventions that are provided as necessary measures already in place and the further actions whose plans are underway focusing on dealing with the obesity menace in children of Lambeth. Basing on research and study of the health issue the essay provides the relevant recommendations to help curb the problem of childhood obesity what ought to be done and improving what is already in place and lastly drawing the conclusions from the study. Rational Child obesity has become a major issue and is more rampant in urban areas than in rural setups making the London city reference relevant and acceptable. Obesity is a health issue in which an individual have excess body weight for a certain height it is from the fat muscle, bone and water. Childhood obesity as a health issue has been found to be in the rise due to several causes broadly categorized as behavioral causes, diet causes and environmental causes. Diet causes arises because individuals always tend to gain weight as a result of taking excess calories compared to the amount of calories they make use of, the excess calories added to the body are then stored in the body as fats this diet problems is mainly for the urban population in which a majority have realized that taking snacks is cheaper as compared to home cooking the daily work commitments always encourage the city residents to rush for snacks and this behavior transfers back to the children who then adopts it. Behavioral causes: in relating the behavioral aspects the children in urban areas tend to spend less time in physical activities having more time spent on watching TVs indoor games and no outdoor plays this reduces the number of calories broken down and increase the fat deposition. The environment a child lives dictates the exposure and also defines the major activities the child involves in. in urban setting the children spend more time indoor on movies and indoor games like computer games and if in case they go out most of the time they get driven around not letting them walk distances to exercise their body. Child hood obesity is a major health issue in London city as a whole with the report by Health and Public service committee report released on April 2011 showing a whopping 240,000 children registered as obese. One in five children is obese and the continually multiplying after each day the HPS data were based on the data from NHS organizations, voluntary groups major food companies and the academic experts. In the report by the HPS it shows that London in comparing with the other cities and the whole country in large for the children within six years it is estimated London has 22% with childhood obesity this is above the English national proportion of 19%. Scientists who had done research in causes of obesity suggests that economy and extend of breast feeding children sufficiently breast fed tend to gain weights slowly compared to children not sufficiently fed. This relation helps the focus on the large cases of childhood obesity in London borough of Lambeth, the economic aspect is shown by the report by the Heath and Public Service Committee shows that a large proportion of children with obesity comes from the deprived areas that is area with a large population of the BAME group the report shows that the deprive areas at 26% compared to 19% in the least deprived areas (report number 7 to HPS committee 9 June 2010) the major ethnic groups being the Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black Caribbean, Black African and other blacks groups. The London borough of Lambeth is one of the boroughs in London with a large population in deprived area and this explains the large cases of childhood obesity. Childhood obesity has become an urban issue in the current society and the recent past in London taking the borough in question Lambeth it is approximated that 50,000 adults in Lambeth are categorized as obese, from the report by The Department of Health 2009 the number of deaths occurring as a result of heart problem and stroke are mainly attributed to obesity and the number estimates to 172 bodies per annum, another aspect of childhood obesity that makes it urban issue Is economic effect, the cost incurred by NHS for principle diseases relating to obesity and overweight was estimated at £122.5million as from the Forecast modeling report 2007. Urban context The London borrow of Lambeth from market survey has an estimated 247 fast food out lets providing hot food take away with close to double the number for restaurants that also provide take away food. From the reports by The National Obesity Observatory it was indicated that in the borough of Lambeth for a population of 10000 people there are 109 fast food outlets. With a good number of the food outlets being around the primary and the secondary schools, this increases the ease of access by the children to the fast foods from the food outlets. The research by national and the local institutions shows that there is considerable majority of the school children from Lambeth consuming the fast foods. Most of the fast foods have high fat contents and salts that are the major contributors to obesity, cardiovascular disease and also can cause certain cancer (Stephen 2006, pp47-67). The report by The Greater London Authority in 2012 about the take away foods informed the local authorities that they must raise alarm that there are effects of the take away foods points close to school children. Obesity in children is brought about by several elements in the society some of the elements include ; lack of involvement in physical activities, lack of good or healthy eating habits, issues arising from the hormones that is argued that children can be obese because of the genes acquired from the family. The generic obesity is not for all the children that are not all the children can acquire obesity from the parents. Majority of the Children in the current time majorly lack enough physical activities from the play grounds since they enjoy watching TVs and movie and playing indoor games like video games all the day through. This has led to the rise of many cases in obesity among children because they lack real physical activities that can help them in breaking down the calories. Contributions to obesity from Family habits such as having unhealthy eating habits always increases the risk of childhood obesity since these habits encourage the digestion of fast foods that are not healthy. The other fact is that hormonal problems will also cause obesity this can always be confirmed by taking routine tests to help determine this cause. The childhood obesity can later lead to youth obesity as it is not possible to lose the excess weights gained in the young age. Consequences and implications of childhood obesity Health effects on children Childhood obesity is likely to expose the child to cardiovascular diseases like high blood pressure or high cholesterol this is mainly due to the excess fat deposits that affects the normal operation of the heart and cardiovascular vessels. Childhood obesity may lead to conditions of prediabeties at the adolescent age , a condition that is evident by blood glucose levels going high, this condition possess a high risk for development of diabetes. Childhood obesity puts the children at greater health risks of joints and bone problems, sleep apnea; it may also lead to social and psychological problems like poor self-esteem and stigmatization. Childhood obesity may pose long term problems is the children grows to adulthood, the health problems may include heart disease type 2 diabetes ,stroke osteoarthritis and a number of types of cancer like cancer of the breast, colon, endometrium, kidney, gall bladder, prostrate, cervix thyroid and multiple myeloma. Childhood obesity can lead to disorders such as early puberty or menarche, disorders that attributes to eating such as anorexia and bulimia. The other disorder that comes with child hood obesity includes; skin infections, asthma and other respiratory problems. Children with over weights are affected by having difficulties in breathing. Obesity in children if not adequately addressed may lead to death with the health statistics showing good numbers of deaths as a result of childhood obesity occurring at the adolescent stage. Social effects The children with obesity at times suffer from harassment and discrimination by their own family members the family feels they are not up to task like the other members and some may view the children with obesity as embarrassment to the family. The children or youths with obesity while in their peer groups get teased by their peers because of their body conditions mostly they will look unique and huge compared to the members of their age set. Psychologists according to the Cornel University Department on Policy Analysis argue that all the stereotypes m and social stigmatization around the children with obesity in most cases lead to those children having low self-esteem and depression the children feel isolated and helpless (Stephen 2006, pp47-67). Researchers in pediatrics from the University of Michigan suggests that In schools and the social points the children with obesity are always targets for bulling. Effect of childhood obesity to society The report by the Health and Public Service committee (9 June 2010) shows how dealing with obesity in children has become a major drains of the national finances, the Departmental of Health estimates shows NHS uses £4.2 billion a year in handling childhood obesity cases and the entire nation’s economy is affected by the obesity cases close to £16 billion a year as the individuals with obesity tend to have low productions. Strategies and interventions The national Government and other organizations for example Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD) coming with strategies that help in the promotion of culture of healthy eating and physically active lifestyle this must be encouraged early enough at the young age as they go through changes in school environment in regard to food and drinks they take, the same strategy should help in improving the facilities for physical activities and encourage the children to actively participate. In addition to enhance this several campaigns that helps in dissemination of nutrition guidelines and health promotion notifications or messages and also active transport and leisure (Stephen 2006, pp47-67). Sassi reported that prevention of obesity is more preferable over other measures to treat obesity; other interventions were aimed at making children have more time identifying impacts on people’s health and in turn obtaining cost-effective ratios. The National Government and the local government has set in place strategies and interventions to help prevent obesity in children some of the measures includes; employing different information method to help communicate healthy living this are educating or persuading people to make them aware of their own behavior dietary giving the knowledge about healthy living, creating giving government presuppositions to combat physical inactivity in children. The National government also to come up with strategies to help discourage the consumption of certain foods by imposing high tax on such foods, making their prices go high or discouraging the business of selling them. The London mayor strategy in combating childhood obesity included setting out budget allocations to help proving Healthy and sustainable food for the London population by reducing the environmental impact of the food industries. (A set aside budget of £4.8 million to over three years from October -2009 to December 2011). The main aim of such strategies is to improve the Londoners health through healthy foods. In making the implementation one of the initiatives included offering training program to train the entire public caterers and the procurement officers for the food industries to always provide healthier food to schools and hospitals. The policy that aims at encouraging greater use of cycling and walking drafted in the London plan is also a strategy to help in combating obesity in children the policy also extends to supporting the development proposals that helps in increasing or enhancing the sports and recreational facilities by giving the supplementary guidelines in play and informal recreation forms this gives standard for new housing giving provisions of at least ten square meters of play space per child provisions and incorporates the policy aiming to protect allotments that encourages creation of spaces for food growing (Stephen 2006, pp47-67). The schools food trust (SFT) is another government charity strategy that was put in place to help in improving foods in schools and their preparation skills, the initiative also increased the encouragement of the school children to take school foods that was aimed to decreasing diet inequalities.it also trained the schools on the nutritional standards for the children foods and how the standards can be met. The schools also strived to achieve Healthy School Status program that is co-ordinated on regional basis to help adopt School Food Policy. Walking is regarded as physical activity and helps the children break excess fats the wail on Wednesday campaign and the Junior Road Safety Officer scheme training the children on road safety is also a strategy that helps the children walk safely to and from school. The big dance festival is also another strategy that encourages the city residents to learn and love dancing that is a physical activity and is very important in controlling obesity. In the same the Annual London youth games also falls in the state physical activity strategies it always involves an estimated 20000 young Londoners drawn from all the boroughs taking part in 30 different types of sports the sponsorships of such sports being the Mayor the boroughs and the London city council as charity (Stephen 2006, pp47-67). The London Health Commissions project is a strategy that aims at improving healthy eating by providing access to fresh and healthy food items, and also encouraging the people to develop good cooking skills. It also extends sin giving encouragements to the locals to improve the availability of local open spaces thus increasing the range of sports allowing for the active involvement in recreational activities that exists and creating some new availed to the local communities. Such programs are led by the local communities in collaboration with partner organizations. Recommendations The school children should be trained on healthy lifestyles that include healthy eating habits and active involvement in physical activities this will help in reducing the risks of children being obese. Improving the societal sectors that helps in determining the dietary and physical activities in children like their families they come from, their communities ,schools they attend, child care settings for the young children, medical care provider in the health facilities, government agencies, food and beverage producing industries and the media houses to help in combating the childhood obesity menace. Schools provide base where the children spent most of their times so they must play the important role of establishing safe and supportive environment for the children by laying down policies and practices that helps in supporting healthy behavior in school children. The schools should also give opportunity for the children to learn about the practice of healthy eating and encourage the children to be actively involved in physical activities. The borough government in collaboration with the school administrations should make good efforts in promoting environmental and policy changes that help in decreasing overeating and inactivity that would include the ban of competitive foods from schools, the school administration must mandate menu labeling and enforce strict rules on daily physical education to all children. The school administrations should from time to time report the student body masses to their respective parents. Conclusions The obesity menace in children in London and particularly the London borough of Lambeth continues to spread at worrying rate .prevention of this epidemic in childhood is increasingly becoming a priority in measures of improving the nation’s health, reduction of body weight biasness is regarded as important as reduction of body mass index. The children relay heavily on adults to help them in the fight against excess gain of body weights especially with the growth of new interventions geared toward the fight. Childhood obesity occurrence sometimes could be viewed to be because of hereditary factors, unhealthy eating habits and child lack of physical activity. These factors show an indication that the parents are capable of preventing childhood obesity although it is clear that they must not be fully responsible the rampant rise of childhood obesity. Parents and schools administrations should always be keen in the growth and development aspects of a child in order to give a hand in preventing childhood obesity. They are directly in contact with the children and can influence or dictate their eating habits and encourage involvement in physical activities thus capable for preventing and reducing the risk of childhood obesity. The effects of the excess body weights are not known to many people but the consequences that comes with it are very serious. Work Cited Stephen R. Daniels. (2006). The Consequences of Childhood Overweight and Obesity. The Consequences of Childhood Overweight and Obesity. 16 (1), 47-67. Read More