Understanding Approaches to Public Health - Essay Example

UNDERSTANDING APPROACHES TO PUBLIC HEALTH By Introduction Excessive or abnormal accumulation of fat leads to health disorders such as being overweight or obesity. According to the World Health Organization (2015, n.p.), the rate of obesity since 1980 has doubled. Generally, overweight (obese) persons die more than underweight persons in today’s world population. As at 2014, about 1.9 billion adults (persons above 18 years) were reported to be overweight. 600 of this amount were reported to be obese. Collectively, the statistics indicate that about 13% of adults in the world are obese. Amongst these numbers, 42 million of them are children under 5 years a recorded in 2013. Further statistics reveal that, contrary to the belief that obesity is a disorder for the well-off, it has been proven that obesity is affecting even middle-income and low-income countries, meaning the problem has attained global status. The fact that obesity has become a matter of concern internationally means that it has also become a public health matter (WHO 2015, n.p.). The public health context is mandated with analysing and minimizing the occurrence risks of obesity because it understands the risks associated with obesity, such as diabetes, depression, cardiovascular disease, multiple forms of cancer, weight-related bias, discrimination, and other social and psychological morbidities. As such, it is critical that the public health context should devise intervention measures to prevent or reverse the consequences of obesity. In the light of these, the following study will highlight obesity and its effects on the public. Additionally, it will evaluate how a lifestyle change policy can be applied as an effective intervention method for obesity which is a public health issue today. Public Health Public health resources, if effectively applied, can substantially improve public health, according to Brownson, Seiler, and Eyler (2010, p). Additionally, it is stated that the effective application of public health resources can be achieved by coming up with upstream inventions to public health issues which affect large populations. In the recent past, several public health interventions have become successful after they had strategic policies were incorporated into them for the public good. Examples include increasing the tax on tobacco to discourage smoking. Others include sensitizing the public on the ways that HIV/AIDS is acquired or transmitted. Such policies proved effective. Similarly, the issue of obesity as a public health problem can be solved by coming up with an inclusive policy to prevent and reduce its occurrence and impacts. Obesity Obesity is caused by multiple factors that include economic, social, genetic, psychological, physiological and environmental elements. However, the most known contributors to obesity are overeating and lack of physical activity. Today, most of the food that is made readily available is usually fat-laden, highly caloric, and very available. In addition, the production of processed foods that contain these elements is on the increase. On matters of physical activity, Clement and Sorensen (2007, p. 12) state that the recent decades have experienced decreasing levels of physical activity. In the United States for instance, Wright and Aronne assert that studies conducted in 2005 showed that less than half of the adults engaged in enough [recommended] levels of physical exercise. Adolescents too, have reduced their level of physical activity. The other cause of increasing obesity is that today’s world is designed to impose a sedentary life of people. Better put; people are spending more time seated in front of TV screens, playing video games, browsing the internet, and technological innovations that simplify life and minimize the amount of calories consumed. In terms of public health, obesity is perceived as the lack of balance between energy intake and expenditure. Concisely, if there is more calorie intake than calorie expenditure, overweight and obesity are likely to emerge. As such, physical activity should be incorporated into daily chores to attain the recommended which is about 20% of the total daily expenditure of energy. The other energy is utilized by thermic processes, and basal metabolism (Waine&Bosanquet 2008, p. 14). From these revelations, it is evident that the one way to intervene on obesity is by preventing it. The second approach is by reversing it so the affected can be free from the associated risks. Lifestyle Change Model As the above causal factors of obesity indicate, obesity develops mostly from an unbalanced lifestyle, in which people eat and do not exercise enough. Again, the availability of cheap fatty foods makes people to add more weight faster, thus become obese. Technology also seems to play a key role in that people are discouraged from exercising by innovations such as elevators that replace stairs, televisions and video games substitute physical play, and some household aids simplify the effort [calorie burning] required in conducting daily chores. Collectively, these factors have made fat to accumulate in most people’s bodies, leading to obesity (Somerville, Kumaran, & Anderson 2012, p. 75). In turn, obesity has become a concern for the public health context which must apply a policy to change the growing obesity rates. In achieving this, a lifestyle change policy that recommends that people change their way of eating and exercising would be effective in preventing and reversing obesity. It is highlighted herein; Parents The public health context should reach out to parents and sensitize them on obesity. In sensitizing them, this would enable them to consider their children’s diets and physical activities. This recommendation would be effective in minimizing the increasing cases of obesity in children in adolescent ages and below. The increasing cases of obesity occurring in children have been attributed to diet and exercise neglect by parents. In short, parents are not being aware of the effects of junk and fatty foods that they allow their children to consume. Again, they contribute to their children’s lack of exercise in that they buy them entertainment aids such as computers and video games which discourage them from participating in physical activities such as games. Authorities The public health context should devise and implement regulations for fast food vendors to reduce harmful products such as fat and/or salt levels in their offerings to recommended levels. This would ensure that people are no longer exposed to harmful products which they consume unknowingly. The change in this recommendation is that this time, fast food vendors should be regulated. Still on regulation, the meals offered at schools should be specified and when necessary, regulated. This is because some schools, and particularly colleges, are offering “attractive” diets which are unhealthy as a way of attracting students. Again, they offer unlimited meal schedules which allow students to determine their own portions. This encourages weight gain in that students eat all types of food without regulation and end up messing with their health. Federal bodies should inflict regulations on food processing companies to practice open and honest marketing strategies such as indicating their ingredients on their product packaging. In this way, people would be aware of the products’ composition thus have choices over what they eat or drink. It is evident that some bogus marketers omit some of the ingredients that they include in their products, thus exposing unsuspecting consumers to hazardous elements. Communities The public health context should encourage community outlets to increase the supply of vegetables and fruits in their localities. It has been proven that some people turn to unhealthy diets because they cannot access other choices or alternatives of better supplies. Again, they should encourage the community vendors and parents to speak out when there are limitations in the availability of vegetables, fruits, and other healthy commodities. Again, information on healthy eating and living should be availed to the community whenever they require it. This includes sharing or defining recipes or meal plans that are balanced and healthy, as well as how to have enough exercise. Finally, urban planners should consider providing green spaces such as parks and community facilities where people can exercise. Playgrounds and gymnasiums should be incorporated into urban designs to encourage people to exercise. In this way, obesity rates would significantly reduce. Schools In addition to having their meals regulated, schools should have sessions to educate students on healthy and unhealthy foods at all levels, including the elementary level. Similar to parents’ educating their children on healthy eating, this would ensure that children are brought up knowing what is healthy and what is not. This would be achieved by sensitizing them on the consequences of eating unhealthy food and lack of enough exercise. In this way, they would choose their diets wisely. Again, school curriculums should be made to include fruit and vegetable tasting sessions as a way of encouraging them to include them in their diets. Apart from incorporating dietary studies in their curricula, schools should emphasize on physical education which encourages exercise. This would be effective in that students spend a lot of their time at school. Therefore, by incorporating physical education at school, children would be encouraged to participate in athletics and other sports offered at their institutions. Again, and if need be, physical education should be made a mandatory part of the curriculum. Counsellors Health counsellors should offer cooking lessons for parents, guardians, and institution chefs on selecting and cooking healthy recipes. This would inflict a change in lifestyle in that “traditional” methods of cooking which may be unhealthy would be substituted with healthier alternatives. It is possible that fatty or unhealthy diets are transferred down the generations, thus the continued emergence of obesity cases. Apart from health counsellors, clinical professionals should advise parents on nurturing their children on healthy diets. In this way, they would bring up healthy children. Beattie’s Model of Health Promotion The above suggested obesity intervention policy’s effectiveness can be evaluated using the Beattie Model of Health Promotion. It is a model with vertical and horizontal spectrums composed of authoritative, individual, negotiated, and collective contexts, that are segregated further to health persuasion, personal counselling, community development, and legislative action (Davis 2006, p. 139). The evaluation of the lifestyle change below is highlighted below; Health persuasion Pros Fruit and vegetable tasting sessions at school would encourage healthy eating. Sessions in schools on unhealthy and healthy foods at all levels of school. Encouraging participation in sports would prevent and reverse obesity. Cons Not all people would agree to eat fruits and vegetables. Not all people are able to participate in sports since they lack the facilities. Personal counselling Pros Parents being counseled on nurturing children in healthy ways will prevent children from being obese at young ages. Sensitization on the importance of physical activity such as playing or disengaging from overusing video games and television would reverse and prevent obesity in children. Cons Feeding cultures would make parents rigid from taking up new feeding habits. Technology such as video games and computers are integral to modern human societies. Community development Pros Providing fruits and vegetables. Creating community spaces for walks, playgrounds, or swimming pools which encourage exercise. Sensitizing communities on healthy eating and the consequences of obesity. Cons Some communities are already developed and cannot have extra facilities added. Some people would not agree to eat fruits and vegetables. Legislative action Pros Regulating school meals ensures children are fed healthily thus lower chances of obesity. Regulating products sold by fast food vendors keep people safe from harmful ingredients. Regulating marketing strategies such as indicating ingredients on product packaging ensures people have a choice of what they want. Cons Private schools may be challenging to enforce such regulations. Vendors are spread out all over and this may challenge evaluation of all vendors’ products. Most people do not read the ingredients of the products they consume. Alternative Strategy An alternative strategy to the lifestyle change obesity intervention method that would be as effective but require more effort to actualize is turning to a vegetarian diet. Although it differs from the lifestyle strategy chance, it might be just effective. Vegetarian diets have been hinted to play a beneficial role in preventing obesity and therefore promoting health. Vegetarianism does not necessarily mean that one abstains completely from all animal products; vegans will leave out all animal products including eggs and milk, lacto-ovo vegetarians consume eggs, milk, and milk products, while Pesco-vegetarians consume milk, milk products, and eggs. As such, there are variations in vegetarian diets. The concept of vegetarian diets is that avoiding some animal products causes a decrease in BMI. In a European Prospective Investigation of the impact of vegetarian diets on weight gain, it was found that; meat lovers had the highest BMIs; fish eaters had intermediate BMIs while vegans had the lowest (Tonstad 2009, p. 791). Conclusively, this indicated that indeed, a vegan diet has significant obesity reduction capabilities. Evaluation method Sabate and Wien (2010, p.1525) support the notion that a vegetarian diet is a perfect intervention especially for the increasing cases of childhood obesity in industrialized societies. A vegetarian diet means that an individual avoids all meats, both red and white. They may also be vegans, meaning people who neither eat meat nor any byproducts of animals such as milk and eggs. This type of diet means one is free from all nutrients found in animal flesh and products. Scientific studies have justified that a vegetarian diet results in a lower BMI and prevalence of obesity in children and adults. In a study conducted by the authors to investigate the relationship between plant-based diets and preventing obesity showed significant connections. In the findings, they found that; apart from significant differences in weight differences, the vegetarians and vegans used in the study were leaner and lower BMI at adolescence. The plant-based (vegetarian) diet is proven to be a workable intervention method for obesity (Bagchi&Preuss 2012, p. 485). This is because plant-based diets have higher levels of complex carbohydrate, low in energy, high in fibre as well as water. Collectively, these components of vegetarian diets increase satiety and resting energy expenditure. The added advantage of this alternative strategy is that once the obesity is prevented in childhood, it has benefits in that it extends its protection even into adulthood. Again, it is applicable at all levels of society. As such, the vegetarian diet alternative strategy suffices as a worthy alternative to the issue of obesity across all levels of society, what needs to be done is to deal with the political, social, economic, and economic forces which hinder the strategy from being readily embraced in society. Conclusion As this study evidences, obesity has become an international public health concern in that more and more people are becoming obese or overweight daily. Children as well as adults are being affected equally, and with the dangerous consequences of obesity, such as development of chronic diseases, intervention methods are necessary. This study presents the lifestyle intervention method which seeks to prevent obesity and reverse already-existing obesity cases. The intervention applies the Beattie Health Promotion Model to determine its effectiveness. The method emphasizes on eating healthy diets and embracing rigorous physical activities (exercise). Additionally, an alternative strategy which is based on eating vegetarian diets is presented. The strategy states that vegetarian diets do not add weight to the body; thus its preference as a way out of obesity. Its evaluation as an effective strategy is also presented. Collectively, both of these interventions are proven to be effective in reversing the detrimental impact of obesity, thus, the effectiveness of the public health context in promoting health. Bibliography Bagchi, D, &Preuss, H 2012, Obesity: Epidemology, Pathophysiology, and Prevention, CRC Press. Brownson, R, Seiler, S, &Eyler, A 2010, “Measuring the Impact of Public Health Policy,” CDC Gov,Available at http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/jul/09_0249.htm [2 May, 2015]. Clement, K, & Sorensen 2007, Obesity: Genomics and Postgenomics, CRC Press. Sabate, J, & Wien, M 2010, “Vegetarian diets and Childhood Obesity Prevention,” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 91.5: 1525-1529. Somerville, M, Kumaran, K, Anderson, R 2012, Public Health and Epidemiology at a Glance.John Wiley & Sons. Tonstad, S, Butler, T, Yan, R, & Fraser, G 2009, “Type of Vegetarian Diet, Body Weight, and Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes,” Diabetes Care 32. 5: 791-796. Waine, C, &Bosanquet, N 2008, Obesity and Weight Management Care, John Wiley & Sons. World Health Organization 2015, “Obesity and Overweight”, WHO, Available at http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/ [2 May, 2015]. Read More