The Strengths and Weaknesses of Three Government Schemes - Case Study Example

Government Schemes To Encourage People to Do Physical Activity Introduction There has been an increasing concern over the increasing rates of illnesses and diseases that are related to unhealthy lifestyles; following these new developments, people have been urged to take up physical exercises to promote positive health outcomes. In the UK, most people are overweight and obese, including 61.9% of the adult population and 28% of children aged between 2 and 15 years of age (Department of Health, 2013); all these people are at a great risk of lifestyle-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart complications, as well as a several cancers. Governments across the world, particularly in Europe, are under growing pressure to pursue actions that motivate and help their citizens to participate in more physical exercise, which is essential to general good health. Evidently, action on physical activity is not only a long-term effort, but also a collaborative area that is tackled effectively through a team strategy across the government and other sectors (Department of Health, 2014). The numerous campaigns adopted by governments in encouraging physical exercises have been highly successful in encouraging a vast proportion of their populations to participate in physical exercises, thereby promoting overall health outcomes. This paper will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of three government schemes that aim to encourage an increase in physical exercise, two from the UK and one from Germany; firstly, the UK’s “Get a life, get active” and “Change4Life” public health campaigns will be addressed, followed by a discussion of Germany’s “National Cycling Plan 2002-2012, Ride Your Bike” campaign. Encouraging physical activity in the UK The National Health Services (NHS) spends nearly £5 billion annually on health problems associated with being overweight and obese, which has led to various campaigns aimed at reducing the level of excess weight in adults and maintaining a sustained downward trend in the level of excess weight in children as well (Department of Health, 2011). The first campaign aimed at promoting physical activity in the UK is known as the “Get a life, get active,” which is aims to promote physical activity among both the young people and their parents. The Public Health Agency developed this physical activity campaign and it seeks to encourage primary school children to be active for a minimum of one hour and adults for at least 30 minutes every day to remain physically fit (Public Health England, 2013). Phase one of the “Get a life, get active” campaign was launched in June 1999 targeting the 40-60 years old adult population, emphasizing the benefits of daily physical activity in form of everyday activities that provide exercises such as gardening, housework and climbing of stairs (Public Health Agency, n.d). This campaign was highly popularized through television, radio and billboard advertising, as well as through leaflets and posters with benefits of physical activity. The second phase of this campaign was launched in May 2000 focusing on the same age group but targeting walking and cycling, which were popularized through TV ads, printed material, as well as promotional items such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, certificates and badges. The third phase launched in June 2001 included running the same advertisement employed in the second and the first phases; the “go walking” television advertisement was shown on UTV and channel 4, and new posters with detailed information on promoting physical activity were also produced. An evaluation of the “Get a life, get active” campaign highlights that it was highly successful in getting more people to be active by increasing an awareness of the benefits of physical activity; a vast proportion of people report having been more physically active in the period of the campaign. Nonetheless, the campaign had a weakness in that it did not take into account the information needs of the lower socioeconomic groups, who remain more uncertain of the specific yields and potential risks associated with physical activity and inactivity respectively. The second UK government’s campaign to promote physical activity is known as the “Change4Life” public health programme, which was launched back in 2009 by the Department of Health; the campaign is England’s first national social marketing approach to tackling causes of obesity. The Change4Life campaign seeks to help families and middle aged adults to take small yet sustainable adjustments to their diet, level of activity as well as alcohol consumption under the slogan “eat well, move more, live longer;” the campaign recommends six healthy behaviours and has six sub brands that focus on both food and activity namely ‘bike4life’ and ‘breakfast4life’. The other four sub-brands in the Change4Life campaign include the ‘Lets Dance with Change4Life’, ‘Play4Life’, ‘Swim4Life’ as well as the ‘Walk4Life’ sub-brand; this approach carries on with the development and implementation of programmes and initiatives aimed at increasing physical activity in families and children between the age of 5-11 through the use of high-profile campaigns and numerous partnerships. Following this campaign, numerous several Change4Life Sports Clubs in nearly 6500 primary schools and over 3000 secondary schools, created specifically for the purpose of increasing the levels of physical activity in the highly inactive 7-9 year olds group. The Change4Life campaign has adopted an integrated marketing approach that utilizes a mix of numerous marketing channels such as television and radio advertising, digital, social media, PR as well as the direct marketing approach. This campaign has a greater impact on health outcomes since its “Eat well, Move more, Live longer” slogan bears a simple message designed to create a holistic approach to dealing with weight and health issues. Precisely, the Change4Life campaign advises people to address all the crucial areas of their lifestyle to promote positive health outcomes not only for their own good, but also their children’s wellbeing in the future. Given that there are various lifestyle elements that actively contribute to weight gain and obesity, a sensible approach to addressing these issues must also have a broad focus to promote positive outcomes; good eating habits must also be supplemented with good exercise habits to achieve optimum results in curbing the overweight and obese menace. A major flaw in the Change4Life physical activity campaign is the government’s inclusion of what has collectively been termed as the corporate partners such as Nestle, PepsiCo and Mars; it would appear that as the leading makers of unhealthy food products, these companies would have the least initiative in promoting healthy food habits (Watts, 2009). Furthermore, the government did not attach any conditions prior to the involvement of industry into the Change4Life campaign thereby losing a crucial opportunity to compel these corporates to change their behaviour. Encouraging physical activity in Germany Germany, like most European countries, has taken measures to encourage its citizens to be physically active to promote health outcomes while reducing the potential risk of overweight and obesity crisis that is rampant today. One of the most popular physical activity promotional initiatives is the “National Cycling Plan 2002-2012” expressed through the “Ride Your Bike” campaign (World Health Organization, 2007), which has created a great buzz in Germany over the recent years, thereby inspiring a whole new area of cycling promotional activities. Such promotional campaigns have been attributed to the increasing public awareness of cycling since they target the whole society, its existing cyclists as well as all potential new ones, particularly school children and commuters. The German government frames its national cycling plan 2002 to 2012 not only as a healthy, but also as a socially acceptable and environmentally sound mode of transport (Federal Ministry of Transport 2002). This campaign highlights the numerous cycling opportunities that exist in society as part of sustainable transport development. Cycling in Germany offers a vast range of benefits such as mobility of users, regardless of their demographics such as age or income levels in addition to boosting health outcomes for the cycling population despite being also cost-effective and environmentally friendly. Cycling campaigns in Germany have been very effective, especially considering that they have been linked to cycling promotion in general rather than being carried out in isolation; precisely, the cycling campaigns have not been carried out in isolation since they have been integrated into a comprehensive communication strategy. For instance, outwardly, the cycling campaign addresses citizens while inwardly, it addresses policy-makers as well as the administrative staff (Cycling Expertise, 2012); unfortunately, success of the cycling campaigns depends on the timing of the specific activities i.e. the campaign is scheduled according to the priorities of the society and media along the yearly calendar. Furthermore, the cycling campaigns rely on the availability of personnel and financial resources to facilitate such things as professional advertising; this prompted the government’s dedication of between EUR 0, 50 and 2, 00 per capita annually to public relations as well as service activities. Conclusion Ultimately, the prevalence of lifestyle-related illnesses today has raised concerns all over the world, particularly in the Eurozone, thereby prompting great reactions from key stakeholders and governments alike; governments in particular are under intense pressure to encourage their citizens to shift their lifestyles in favour of physical activities that are crucial for positive health outcome. The numerous campaigns adopted by the UK and German governments in encouraging their citizens to participate in more physical exercises confirms that physical exercise is indeed at the core of every successful weight-gain reduction and prevention strategy. Evidently, the numerous campaigns adopted by these two governments in encouraging physical exercises have been highly successful in encouraging a vast proportion of their populations to participate in physical exercises thereby promoting great outcomes in terms of improved physical fitness in particular while enhancing the overall health of the populations in general. The reaction of these two governments towards the prevalence of obesity and overweight cases and the related lifestyle diseases and illnesses highlights the crucial role played by physical exercises in promoting positive and improved health outcomes. References Public Health England. (2013). Healthy people, healthy places briefing: Obesity and the environment: Increasing physical activity and active travel. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/256796/Briefing_Obesity_and_active_travel_final.pdf Cycling Expertise. (2012). Campaigning for Public Awareness on Cycling. Retrieved from http://www.nationaler-radverkehrsplan.de/en/transferstelle/downloads/cye-o-04.pdf Department of Health. (2011). Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A call to action on obesity in England. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/213720/dh_130487.pdf Department of Health. (2013). Policy: Reducing obesity and improving diet. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/reducing-obesity-and-improving-diet Department of Health. (2014). Government fires starting pistol to tackle physical activity. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-fires-starting-pistol-to-tackle-physical-activity Federal Ministry of Transport. National Cycling Plan 2002-2012: Ride your bike: Measures to Promote Cycling in Germany. Retrieved from http://edoc.difu.de/edoc.php?id=YFGDITZ2 Public Health Agency. (n.d). Get a life, get active. Health promotion agency. [Online]. 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