Obesity: Causes, Effects, And Solutions

Background

Write an essay on Obesity.

Obesity possesses one of the major concerns of our time. Australia is a nation where the 60% of adults suffer from obesity and overweight. The instances of the obesity have been increasing for the last 30 years. It is common in men and women from the disadvantaged socio-economic group. Education deprived people are most affected along with Australian citizen who are born outside or not of indigenous origin.  People from outside of Australia of other ethnicity are seen to be suffering from the bad effects of obesity. Obesity controlling is about bringing some changes in the lives of people in a positive environment, changing a behaviour of people to lead a healthy lifestyle. It should have a lot of natural influence of nutrition, as well as emotional support from the family and friends. Food plays an important aspect in daily life; a good food habit can increase the-the life expectancy of a person several years whereas a bad food habit can decrease it at a phenomenal rate. Food and alcohol have become the fabric of social life, thus to counter the bad effects of this new global symptoms, one has to be very strong willed and must have the determination to stay fit. Obesity is a nationwide problem, which should be addressed, and people should be made aware of the problem it poses. The problem should be tackled as a unit like in a family, where conventionally a mother plays an important role in the selection of the food her family eats. Obesity as a problem can be dealt with as a community, by the help of the health services. Awareness can be spread by the nongovernmental organisations, both industry and government working actively and engaged to eradicate the problems that arise from obesity.  Priorities and targets should be set, tackling the problem of obesity do not have a structured solution. The approach that should be taken is, “learning by doing”. Interventions and discussions can be held for achieving long-term target.

Health promotion is an idea or advice for the betterment of the people. Every government has a responsibility to the people for watching over their health and wellbeing; a health-promoting proposal provides a range of information that advises people on the things to do for remaining healthy. It helps taking precaution and other preventive measures so that the citizens could become aware of the risks that can occur if the person does not lead a healthy lifestyle. Obesity is a major health risk factor that affects both the adults and children. Obesity is contributing to the onset of the type II diabetes as well as cardiovascular disease. The risk is prevalent in children and teenagers. Children suffer from long-term health issues. Obesity makes people lethargic, productivity decreases. The quality of life decreases. Childhood obesity is a cause for concern because of the complexity of the problem. Children are of growing age the fat cells develop in such a way that the fat cells divide during this period (Grunseit et al., 2015). Thus reducing the accumulated fats becomes very difficult. The high rate of childhood obesity is a cause for concern in Australia. Compared to other developed economies of the world Australia ranks among the top countries, which suffer from the ill effects of obesity (McNeely et al., 2012).

Target populations

The awareness in Australia for health promoting factors on obesity and overweight are advice that is made or given to planning institutions within the government for taking the ideas or granting some funding for the local application of the ideas for the betterment of the people. The health promotion on obesity is an important aspect of taking care of the people using increasing the awareness about a certain disease which is a direct or indirect cause of overweight. The overweight and obesity have been on the verge of increasing and development over the last few years. The factors on which the health promoting factors on obesity are conducted are guiding the kids as well as the adults for the betterment of health and make them aware of the crucial facts that could affect the people in Australia. Causes for the increase of obesity have been identified as: Obesity is one of the major results for genetic factors, including other external parameters of the daily life. The genetic makeup of people plays an important role in controlling the rate of metabolism of a person. Beside the genetic factors, overweight and obesity result from an imbalance of energy, where intake energy exceeds the expended energy along a stipulated period. The inadequate balance of diet and physical activity play a great role in the cause of obesity. The scarcity of energy balance mostly causes obesity in people. The next major cause of obesity and overweight in people all over the world is the lifestyle in an inactivated manner; Laziness or inactivity with low physical activities; Lifestyle of the family; Medical problems which include the diseases and treatments that may cause obesity; Medications of some medicines have steroids that can cause obesity; Socio-economic condition of the people which includes extreme stress and workload throughout; Education increases the awareness regarding the conditions. Therefore the people with low education may initiate the person to persist diet which may increase the chance of obesity and overweight; next is the age, which generally includes that due to aging the mechanisms of fat metabolism decreases, and as a result the person suffers from heavy weight and obesity (O’Hara et al., 2016).The previous factors resolves and raised by the health promoting teams, are to change the thoughts of the parents to focus more on the kid’s health rather than making them overweighed. Devote health promotion resources previously for the betterment of the people of Australia. The counts of obesity and overweighed adults have undergone an increase from 4.6 million to 5.4 million till the year of 2010. This problem is also noticed amongst children. About 25% of the kids are overweighed and obese started from the initial percentage of 5%. The average weight of the Australian adults increased from 0.5 to 1 kg per year, which has been rated over the last 20 years (Gibbs et al., 2015).

Measurement

As obesity and overweight have been an epidemic health problem in Australia, especially amongst the adults as well as the children emphasises a special disadvantages for the socio-economic, and many other people who are born overseas, especially the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Among the people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, region increased body mass and obesity is the second highest disease contributor to highly burdened diseases. This obesity can cause risk factors for a different number of problems such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, to some particular cancers, and infertility in females. Obesity can cause a huge problem in female reproductive systems, and fertility problems. Obesity can suppress the female hormonal regulations and as a result of this, the hormone cycle gets disrupted due the reason of which the reproductive regulations in females. The major cause of obesity is the unconditional and irregular physical activity and unbalanced nutritional diet, etc. (O’Hara et al., 2016).

Obesity and overweight are measured by the BMI, which is also known as Body Mass Index. This is calculated by dividing the weight in kilometres concerning the height in metres. Overweight is measured at 25 of BMI concerning the BMI of 30 or more. These cut-offs are respectively associated with the mortality and the chronic diseases which are rated internationally by the World Health Organization. The obesity is classified primarily into four groups, namely: Preobese; Obese class 1; Obese class 2; Obese class 3. The Preobese includes the range of the BMI from 25.00 to 29.00 under the category of increased obesity. The Obese class 1 ranges from 30.00 to 34.99 BMI, under the category of Moderate obesity. The Obese class 2 ranges from 35.00 to 39.00 BMI and includes under the category of severe obesity. And the Obese Class 3 ranged above 40.00 and categorised under the category of the very severe type of obesity. People who are affected with these disorders may get privileged with the health programs on the obesity. The people having overweight are being subject with proper diet and physical works (McNeely et al., 2012). The disorders which are directly associated with obesity and overweight are Coronary heart disease; high blood pressure; stroke; type 2 diabetes; metabolic disorders; cancers; Osteoarthritis; abnormal blood fats; Sleep apnea; obesity hypoventilation syndrome; reproductive problems; gallstones; overweight related problems in children. Coronary heart disease: as the body mass increases the chance of coronary heart disorder increases accordingly. A waxy substance is formed inside the coronary pipes, which are known as arteries and veins. These waxy substances are known as the peak. Therefore, the oxygen and the carbon dioxide circulation is stopped gradually (Ginter & Simko 2013).High blood pressure: the blood pressure force the blood against the wall of the arteries and veins, the greater the obesity increases, the more the blood pressure increases. The blood pressures rise and remains for a span of time, and damage the body in certain ways. Stroke: due to obesity the plan eventually increases, therefore, the risk of suffering from stroke rises as because the BMI increases. This is mainly due to the bran clots and the flow of the blood is eventually blocked.Type 2 diabetes: the blood glucose level increases and. The body metabolises the food, utilises it to glucose, and carries it throughout the body. In the people having Type 2 diabetes, the cells cannot use insulin properly. Diabetes is primary leading cause for the early death, kidney disease, blindness, stroke, etc. Abnormal blood fats: the obesity increases the rate of risk factors, having inadequate and abnormal blood fats. Due to the reason of the abnormal blood fats, the rate of metabolic problems and the heart disease rate increases gradually. Special types of Cancers: the risk of colon, breast, gallbladder cancers and endometrial cancers can occur due to the result of obesity and overweight. Reproductive problems: due to obesity the female reproductive problems increases to a great extent. The rate of infertility increases gradually due to high obese figure. People suffering from overweight have an uncontrolled hormonal cycle. Therefore, the hormonal cycle hugely affects the reproductive and infertility levels of the females. Other obesity and overweight related problems include the health risk of kids and teens. Other types of diseases include the metabolic disorders, irregular in menstruation cycle, and gradual increase of chances in the development of disease, etc. (Giesbertz et al., 2015).

Causes of obesity

Health projects or proposals can be given by individual, concerned communities; proposals can be sent by nongovernmental organisations; government department can also send proposals. These proposals may contain the ideas, solutions. Proposals can include requests for funding. Government agencies have the responsibility to scan each of the proposals, and then the committee formed by the government discusses the feasibility of the proposal. The main goals which are maintained by the health promoting teams are the positive effectiveness of their promotion on the adults, the women, the male as well as the kids. The nutritional education which should be as one of the primary objectives, this should improve the student’s health. The main purposes for the promotion about obesity are: 1) achieve the objectives of strategies of promoting, protecting, as well as improvising the health of the population. 2) Ensuring the promotion of health practices throughout the service line in international level. 3) Another objective is to construct the efficiency of the organization to improve the health of the population. 4) The HSE which is also known as Health promoting health service which is generally based on the international best practice or the governmental departments. 5) Increase the efficiency and the effective use of the promotion of the resources to reduce the proliferation of the disease which has been chronic in present time. 6) Another most important objective is the monetary values; it is to ensure the investment and the strategic framework of the investments, the value of the money, and the matter of reducing the work. The health service setting includes the implementation of the health promoting health service which is also known HPHS. The goals and objectives also include the areas such as: community setting; education setting; health service setting; creating supportive environments for the promoting condition keeping it mind about the obesity in Australia, as it become a choric disease not only in a confined area but also throughout the World (Salazar et al., 2015).

The committee discusses the pros and cons of the proposal. If the agency or the committee thinks the proposal to be good and helpful towards the citizens, the funding is granted. The government agencies extend support to the applicants; they help in improving the policies, they also formulate programs by the law prescribed in the constitution and the directives were given by the health officials. The programs are aimed at reducing the instances of the gaining weight. Research and analysis are done to find ways to improve the programs aimed at reducing the weight of the target population. The target population is also discussed in the proposal ad managed by the committee. The committee and the government agency actively engage with other countries and research institutions to gather survey information and new research avenues for battling the problems. The agency also organises health camps, awareness camps for the general population to educate them about the risk of obesity (Giesbertz et al., 2015).

Effects of obesity

Strategic planning needs experts that are provided by the government. Expert planning eases the task of making short-term and long-term goals for the programs, which the people adhere to. The agency of the government encourages innovation. Innovation helps build base to new guides and policies as well as programs regarding obesity. An innovative way of implementation of these programs can help children and adults. Innovation is needed for the implementation of new programs for people with special needs like children and adults suffering from autism, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer and so on. Collaboration with industries, institutions and with rehabilitation centres having the expertise of dealing with the obesity and related problems helps efficient implementation of the planned regimen. Technical support and advertisement fall under the awareness program of the government; technical skills are needed in those programs where some hands-on implementation is required, like in the gym where a trainer with ample skill is needed to help the adults, children as well as people with disabilities (Fenner et al., 2013).

Monitoring the implementation of the proposals is another important task of the government agencies to regulate any discrepancies with the allocated funds. The agencies and committees help the ground level workers form the alliance with other workers within the country or with people working towards the same goal in different countries. This helps in the exposure of the workers to new ideas, business strategies, also to new approaches to the same problem. The government also places monitoring executives to check the food products, meant for children or elders who require very strict dietary requirements, if the food products do not meet the required quality that food product either have to be banned or sent back to the producer for revisions of the formula of the food products. Good establishment of the programs needs good primary workers of the health department. It becomes very important to strengthen the skills and education of the primary health care workers so that they in return can help the general population. Some projects that are based on obesity and overweight in Australia is ‘Shape-up Australia’, which is an initiative of the Australian government to assist the citizens of Australia to be able to identify good food for the healthy diet, information regarding physical activities that can help reduce weight. This initiative is an integrated approach with a range of partners from both the governmental and non-governmental agencies. They help in prevention of obesity and promote the good effects of physical activity in saying fit and healthy to the general population in Australia. Another project dealing with reducing risk of obesity ‘Draft framework for monitoring television marketing and advertising to children of unhealthy food and drinks’. This was formulated in the year 2012 where the government commissioned a review about monitoring the effect advertisement had on the dietary plans of children. It reviewed the side effects of the advertisement and marketing of unhealthy food and drinks on television. It concluded that the study cannot find any comparison regarding the trend of increasing amount f fast-food consumption by children influenced by advertisement on television (Ginter et al., 2013).

Solutions to obesity

Allocation of the fund from the agency is of 100,000 AUD then 5% of this amount is set aside for monitoring cost, 5000 AUD approx. For the evaluation of the proposal, 10% of the allocated fund is kept aside, which is amounting to 10,000 AUD.  Sufficient resources and time are needed for the collection of related information about 2% of the budget are kept aside for the expenditure including the 5-10% above. The rest are allocated for the salary of the workers associated with the implementation of the proposal (Franks et al., 2015).

Table: – Approximate costs and expenditure for successful allocation of granted funds from the government.

Particular	Cost
1. Evaluation cost	10,000AUD
2. Monitoring cost	5000 AUD
3. Salary of Workers	50,000AUD.
4. miscellaneous	10,000AUD

 Conclusion:

It can be concluded that the health promotions in Australia have put the country to a very modified extent. The promotion has good as well as negative effects. The negative effects include that the people in Australia are of independent minds; they may or may not follows the dictations of the government. Therefore, the some people may or may not feel interested to follow the health promotions organised by the government. It can also be concluded with the positive aspects of the promotions, where it utilises the health issues and give solutions and awareness. 

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