Promoting Public Health - Term Paper Example

PROMOTING PUBLIC HEALTH (Word count 2534) Introduction The of the health across United Kingdom can be easily inferred from the statistics available on the obesity related information (NHS, 2009). The rapid rise in the hospital admissions due to the problems caused by obesity tends to be very alarming. The reports from Information Centre for Health and Social Care shows that nearly 12 percent and 13 percent rise in hospital admissions is observed for boys and girls respectively since the year 1995 (NOF, 2009). Thus the message of prevent is better than cure need to be sent across entire population to contain the highly disastrous situations. The result of the continuous efforts are said to be paying off slowly. The information available from national obesity forum seems to give an indication that the rising obesity pattern is slowly flattening out in the country (NOF, 2009). Before any specific intervention schemes are proposed it would be worthwhile to have quick glance on the past efforts to control the child obesity in United Kingdom. Majority of the obese children fall prey to various health related diseases such as coronary artery disease, Type 2 diabetes and blood pressure. The psychological stress to which the obese children are put to is another issue to be handled carefully. The children who are overweight are constantly ridiculed by other and this constant mental harassment could culminate in a state of depression. The efforts of the Cross-government obesity unit through the national child Measurement Programme (NCMP) to implement the “Healthy weight, healthy live strategy” have certainly helped to pay rich dividends (NHS,2010). Among the various initiatives The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) have played a pivotal role in the reduction of obesity across United Kingdom. The approach was to have people centered programme where they are able to realize their own problems and hence identifying the right means to combat the precarious situation. The primary initiative through NCMP was to understand the prevalence of child obesity in an area which have helped to extend the support of local planning and delivery services for the affected children. In addition, a closer surveillance to determine the extend of growth pattern in children and also the incidence of obesity is another major task carried out. This programme have also helped to enhance the public awareness of the child weight issues thus helped to draw more parental attention to ensure healthy weight in the children (NHS, 2010). The influence and the significance of parental influence on the childs healthy weight was established based on the research exercise undertaken by Department of Health (Department of Health, 2007). The research was primarily aimed to assess the attitude of parents and children towards the height and weight monitoring of their children during 2005-06 NCM programme (Department of Health, 2007). Besides these, the investigations also looked into the impact of releasing the feedback to the parents on the above mentioned data along with the BMI. The feedback on the child’s health thus provided a better insight for the parents and ensuring their child was given the right amount of exercise and good food for maintaining a healthy lifestyle (Department of Health, 2007). Challenges to be addressed The effort to understand the prevalence childhood obesity from the very easy observations of measuring their height and weight promises to give considerable advantage for creating a surveillance system in United Kingdom. This would help to control the obesity of children, which unfortunately is affecting UK as a national epidemic. These initiatives too need considerable improvement from the present state of operation as the large-scale variability prevailing in both the content and the manner in which the information is collected. Thus the important factors to be considered in these activities are high coverage to be maintained in order to get a true picture of the national scene and also the improvement in the reliability of the measurements taken. Further, development of good information management system is also a very vital requirement to meet the specified objectives of the programme. The initial work undertaken with the NHS and LHB based on the postal inquiries received only partial response (Gully et al, 2007). The available data showed that the mean coverage of the initiative was 54 percent and the organizations concerned with this activity was not able to state properly why such low levels of coverage existed. Even the information available on the computer, like Body Mass Index of the children, was found to be invalid mostly arising from the error in the data entry exercise (Gully et al, 2007). Also, the age of the children who were put for such an evaluation also failed to establish consistency. The authors are of the opinion that the agencies holding the information about the children are unwilling to deliver, large quantity of data about the children was missing that make it highly impossible for a proper national level analysis. Thus as in any data collection exercise, it is established that significant improvement is required in the population inclusion, method of sampling and process of recording and also data entry operations (Gully et al, 2007). Thus the obesity control programme planning need more serious thought and action. Need for addressing the obesity threats In addition to large number of programmes conducted, need for certain issue specific sessions that would address specific concerns of the parents seem to be necessary. These concerns start right from identifying the obesity in the child. Generally it is difficult to determine whether a child is overweight or obese. It is necessary to consult with a physician, who correlates the childs age with the growth indicating charts in order to make an appropriate judgment. In the case of an overweight child, it is preferable to have increased physical activity rather than strict dietary restrictions. Medical advice of a dietician would find very helpful to achieve weight reduction in the children while a direct food control by parents can cause serious risk to the childs health. Whole wheat and rice products with fresh fruits and vegetables in the right proportions are the necessary items for ensuring active growth in young ones. Also, controlling the intake of fat by avoiding fried fish, meat etc in large quantitates and incorporating grilled and oven fried items could help to bring down the fat content. The other items that need control are health drinks with high sugar level. Substituting them with juices made from fresh fruits and milk with very low fat content is certainly a healthier option. Establishing good eating habits in children is another important aspect to be considered here. A specific eating pattern need to be established in the family so as to avoid eating the whole day. Children should not be allowed to eat while watching television and shall be made to eat always in a group. Also, they shall be allowed to eat when ever they are hungry and expresses the necessity for food. Further, making children eat in slow manner is always ideal for them. An exclusive session that could address all the above mentioned details would prove very helpful for the parents. Activities planned and its impact The most commonly used theory in the health education and promotion of health is the Health Belief Model. The essence of this model is that the health behavior of any individual is directly influenced by the personal belief and perceptions in that individual. In connection with this it would be worthwhile to assess the different type of perceptions that are considered as very vital in the context of obesity in children. The perceived seriousness of the obesity in children is considered very low in most of the parents as most of them are under the belief that the phenomenon of child obesity has only very short-term effects. Thus the initiatives to enhance the seriousness by way of demonstrating the weakness in the child and linking it with the obese conditions is inevitable. The perceived susceptibility too is very low as it is obvious from the situation of very low levels of exercise by the children. Most of them spends major share of their time indoors without much physical activity and increases the risk of being affected by the obesity. The perceived benefits and perceived barriers are the other set of perceptions that influences the health behavior. In addition modifying variables, cue to action and self-efficacy are the other set of key factors influencing the susceptibility, seriousness, benefits and barriers. Inspite of the best efforts taken by the government and other concerned groups it is obvious that still more work need to be planned and undertaken to reduce the child obesity levels in United Kingdom. These activities need to be designed in line with the existing understanding of health belief model. Both the parents and the children need to be aware of the implications of the obesity and it is necessary to create an attitudinal shift in the children to make them healthier individuals. A moderation workshop is planned with the leading physician in the local area as the chief moderator in one of the school. During the workshop session the parents and the children would have to prepare a small description where they are asked to present in the most simple manner their food habits, exercise pattern and their hobbies too. Besides they are also required to prepare a poster illustration on their perception of a healthier family. Both the description and poster did not carry the identity of the individuals and hence a detailed critical examination could be could be conducted by the chief moderator. The doctor would take up each description and the poster presented by every parent -child team and explains the inherent risks involved in the pattern of lifestyle being narrated there. This would help the children and also their parents to identify the gaps in their perceptions and try to look for the alternatives. After a detailed presentation has been conducted, the information poster exhibition is arranged in a different hall, where all the participants could gain a detailed insight into the various aspects of healthier lifestyle and implications of wrong practices. Besides these, personal counseling session is also simultaneously held to eliminate the concerns of both the parents and the children. Thus this comprehensive activity should be able to give a dramatic change in the sedentary life being practiced by the overweight and obese children. The feedback on the workshop is taken in another review session scheduled after four weeks. Here children alone are allowed to attend and are individually asked to narrate their experience they had at home after the initial interactive workshop. The feedback from the children would help us to arrive at the extend of the impact each one of them have had on the health implications of obesity. And also it would help us to assess the impact of the session based on the exact number of students who have tried to change from their conventional styles. Also, for those who are not convinced on the new methods or approaches further exercises/investigations need to be carried out to evaluate the factors that act as the impediment. Likelihood of Success The success is determined based on how the workshops have helped to change the perceptions of both the parents and the children. The past initiatives by the government have tried to realize the need for awareness creation in the parents regarding the health effects of obesity. The interventions made through National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) have helped to control the rate of obesity cases. Still there is considerable room for improvement and micro level programmes as envisaged in the activity plan would give more involvement by the participants besides increasing the success rate of such programmes. It is obvious that the workshops on obesity effects would help to remove the anxieties and also give them the necessary helping hand to clear the stumbling blocks they face towards leading a healthy lifestyle. It is almost certain that most of the parents have a general idea on the impact of wrong food choices or lack of outdoor activity to children. Hence, the problems that most of the parents face might be something beyond these general information which makes individual training session a necessity. Thus school specific workshops for controlling overweight conditions and obesity would improve the efforts of both parents and children in ensuring proper health to the young ones. Expected long term returns The past efforts to control the obesity have helped to level off. But the results achieved are still only a small step and the total figures on the children affected with the obesity are still very high. The data collected from over a million children both in the reception stage (4 to 5 year old) and also in year 6 stage (10 to 11 year old) have certainly helped to establish a baseline for the activities (Department of Health, 2009). This would be an extensive resource for the entire world to understand how local area based target services could be planned to achieve better results especially those concerning the children and families. Though the existing level of obesity among children is still very high, the initiatives undertaken have helped to keep the obesity levels unchanged in comparison with the previous year. The figures reported for the year 2007-08 showed that 22.6 percent for the reception children and 32.6 for the year 6 group were either obese or overweight, while for the year 2008-09 these figures were 22.8 and 32.6 respectively (Department of Health, 2009). The scheme supported by government to ensure a total wellbeing of the children was well received by the families and schools besides active participation from industries and local communities. Thus more focussed workshops are certainly inevitable that would give a comprehensive approach to make the people realize the impact of not being healthy right at the tender age. The families that have not cared much on the nature of food intake is found to have turned very serious and meticulous about the choice the food both in the content as well as on the quality. The elimination of high sugar food and chocolates totally from their diet list and accommodating more vegetables and fruits are some the signs of healthy change that are anticipated from the workshops. In addition, most of them would also earmark specific time for having reasonably good workouts either, for walking, jogging or swimming (Department of Health, 2009). Conclusion The future health of any country is directly dependent on the health of the children in that nation. The high levels of obesity of the children is considered to be a public health issue in United Kingdom. Though various policy interventions have been tried the impact received from them was very minimal. Though the latest statistics released by National Child Measurement Programme shows a constant level of obesity, though the extent of reduction achieved across the years is not very significant. Thus innovative strategies need to be evolved to reduce the health threat caused by the child obesity. The moderation workshops proposed in this study could prove to be an effective method due to the extensive individual attention being given for designing effective strategies to counter the rising levels of obesity. References Department of Health (2007), Research into parental attitudes towards the routine measurement of children’s height and weight, [Online] Available at [Accessed on 13 March 2010] Department of Health (2009), Over a million kids weigh in to tackle obesity, [Online] Available at [Accessed on 13 March 2010] DoH (2009), Obesity (updated June 2009); many links to relevant articles and sites. Gully, K, Williams, R., Lester, N. and Aitken, S. (2007) Measuring children and monitoring obesity, Journal of Public Health , 29(2, pp :210-212 HSC (n.d.), Health promotion theories and models, Public Health Agency [Online] Available at [Accessed on 13 march 2010] Kipping RR, Jago R, Lawlor DA; (2008), Obesity in children. Part 1: Epidemiology, measurement, risk factors, and screening, British Medical Journal, 337(Oct 15 3), a1824. NHS (2009), National Child Measurement Programme: England, 2008/09 school year, [Online] Available at [Accessed on 13 March2010] NHS (2010), National Child Measurement Programme, [Online] Available at [Accessed on 13 March 2010] NHS Evidence (2009), Annual Evidence Update - Obesity - Childhood obesity: surveillance and prevention . NOF (2009), Statistics on obesity, physical exercise and diet, England 2007/08, [Online] Available at [Accessed on 12 March 2010] RCPHD (n.d.), Approach to weight management in children and adolescents in primary care, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and National Obesity Forum. Read More