Obesity as A Public Health Problem
Introduction
Public health campaigns are important ventures that need towering resources, technical capabilities, and commitment to bring about a positive outcome. Fighting obesity in America has been one of the colossal public health campaigns. According to The National Center for Health Statistics data, brief 2018-2019,42.4% is the prevalence of obesity. This data has increased from 4.7% to 9.2%. $147 US dollars was the estimated cost of obesity. 40% of the total prevalence of obesity was among young adults aged 20 to 39 years, 44.8% among middle-aged adults aged 40 to 59 years, and 42.8% among older adults aged 60 and older.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 38 million children under the age of 5 were overweight in 2019. While obesity is preventable, most of the world’s population lives in countries where obesity kills people more than underweight. In California, more than one-quarter of adults (7.3 million) and 15.8% of adolescents are obese. These rates double when the number of overweight people and obese are combined. California adults and adolescents, however, meet the Healthy People 2020 targets for obesity. Still, the names of people with obesity have increased despite the state have reported a decrease in childhood obesity.
Obesity as A Public Health Problem
The primary cause of obesity and overweight is the imbalance between the calories consumed, and the calories squandered. Increased consumption of fats and sugars and the inactivity of the body are also some of the significant causes of obesity. Obesity poses a threat to the health sector as the consequences are risky to individuals’ health. Obese people are on the verge of suffering from cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders, and some cancers. For instance, childhood obesity is associated with disability and, in some cases, premature death (Finney Rutten et al., 2012). Moreover, obesity poses another negative implication in the public health sector, as most obese patients suffer from physical and psychological stigma. Stigmatization and discrimination eventually cause worse outcomes for overweight and obese individuals.
Obesity poses a financial threat, as well. California is estimated to spend $15.2 billion on health care, with 41.5% of this money is allocated to help treat and curb obesity (California Department of Public Health, 2012). According to the California Office Of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD), close to half a million annual hospital admissions are obesity and overweight related conditions. Obesity has been related to reduced worker productivity and has imposed $73.1 billion per year on the full-time employees of the united states.
Evidence-Based Intervention
Obesity prevalence is high among all Americans. However, its higher among all Californians, but people of color and the poor are most likely to be affected. Obesity in California is a result of physical inactivity, poor dietary behavior such as the rate at which people consume soda and fast foods. There are, however, other factors associated with environmental factors. They include accessibility to fresh food, healthy eating, neighborhood safety, and social cohesion (Harrison et al., 2005).
For these reasons, the evidence-based interventions in California should include; dietary behavior-based intervention, physical-based intervention, environmental interventions such as neighborhood safety-based intervention, healthy food availability, affordability, and accessibility-based intervention, and social cohesion-based interventions.
Dietary behavior-based intervention
According to the health behaviors associated with obesity in California, individuals (kids, teenagers, and adults) who consumed fast foods and soda daily or weekly are more likely to be obese than those who consume these foods less frequently or not at all (World Health Organization, 2016)). This behavior is, however, preventable whereby mothers are educated to breastfeed their kids as breast milk has a protective effect against obesity at an early age. Adults and older children can prevent the possibility of suffering from obesity by consuming more fruits and vegetables to promote their overall health and disease prevention. For instance, parents can reduce the amount of junk food they buy and replace them with more fresh fruits and vegetables. Children are most likely to adopt the eating habits that their parents teach them. Adults are therefore encouraged to promote healthy eating among young children.
Physical-based intervention
Frequent physical activity assists in weight gain prevention. Most Californians, however, do not practice the required amount of physical activities. 45% of young children, however, the only ones involved in more physical activity mainly through playing. The physical activities decrease by age as only 16% of adolescents involve themselves in at least an hour of physical activity in a week. Californians should frequently involve themselves with physical activities to maintain a healthy weight. Creating awareness that physical activities help to prevent obesity and chronic diseases such as diabetes and premature death would help to cub obesity cases in Californian hospitals.
Neighborhood safety-based intervention
Thirty percent of the adults in California who felt unsafe in their homes were obese compared to the 25 percent of those who felt safe in their neighborhood. Walking and running is an effective way of keeping up with the right weight. Safety is, therefore, an essential aspect of promoting physical activity and weight maintenance. Studies have shown that obesity prevalence was higher among individuals ho who never felt safe in their neighborhood were not likely to take a leisure walk or run, hence increasing the chance of becoming obese. Security assurance would positively intervene in more outdoor physical interaction. Securing California streets could help people feel safe, and they would, therefore, practice physical activities in their environment at their comfort.
Healthy food availability, affordability, and accessibility-base intervention
Even when available, fresh produce is not likely to be consumed if it is not affordable (Monteiro et al.,2004). California adults who have reported having problems accessing healthy foods are more likely to suffer from obesity than those who had access to healthy food. The food environment varies from county to county and place to place; therefore, the state has limited availability of stores providing fresh foods. Affordability also varies from place to place as counties with the least obesity cases recorded to have no problem accessing and affording fruits and vegetables. If people living in the imperial would easily access and afford groceries, California would have fewer obesity cases to deal with. Reduction on taxes imposed on the farm would help individuals in the imperial produce their groceries. Public awareness to help people access groceries would help the poor and those living in the imperial afford fresh fruits and vegetables.
Social cohesion-based intervention
The level of solidarity and connection in a society indicates social cohesion. Neighborhoods with low social cohesion in California recorded a higher number of obese individuals than communities with a higher-level social cohesion. Social cohesion, however, varies with ethnicity and income. 79 and 73 are the percentages of Latinos and African-Americans with low social cohesion, compared to the 61 percent of whites with obese living in low cohesion environments. This should be a public awareness situation that should be publicly dealt with to make people of color feel integrated into society.
Economic Analysis of Obesity
Obesity has brought about a global economic impact of approximately $2.0 trillion. The financial challenge includes the loss of economic productivity, the loss of young productive life, the cost that has been used to improve obesity health care systems. In most developed countries, obesity is ranked at least a top-three economic burden. For instance, in the united states, obesity is ranked second among the highest economic impacts, spending approximately $663 billion in 2012. The United Kingdom experienced a tremendous financial loss of $70 billion in the same year, 2012. In California, $81.6 billion could be saved by 2030 if the adult body mass index would reduce by 5%. This is a clear indication of how financial implications obesity causes.
71% of the economic unproductivity around the world is, as a result, premature mortality to obesity and 29% due disability that has prevented individuals from their contribution to the economy. These statistics are higher in the developed economies than in emerging economies. This burden affects employers through the loss of employees and their productivity due to health care costs.
Overview of Obesity in California
during the past 30 years, the rate at which adults and preschool children had obesity doubled. The frequency tripled among adolescents and most school-aged children. All population segments have been affected. This includes age, sex, level of education, geographic region, race, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity. In response to the obesity pandemic, the California department of public health monitored the primary challenge of obesity prevention. Genetic factors were the most challenging to prevent and to control. Genetic factors bring about a predisposition affecting the rates of metabolism and fat distribution. Therefore, parents’ eating behavior was mostly associated with their children’s risk of becoming overweight or obese.
Strategies to Prevent and Manage Obesity in California
The California department of public health has established local organizations to create awareness of healthy living measures that prevent obesity. There have been states and local programs to help people know their body mass index, educative measures to maintain a healthy weight, and the physical activities to combat obesity.
Community efforts to create healthy food environments measures have been put into place. They involve providing incentives for local farmers and supermarkets to establish robust food availability and affordability. Improving the nutrient food intake in the restaurants’ menus and fast food shop is a campaign that is proving effectiveness in most Californian towns. Supporting nutrition standards for worksites, schools, and hospitals is a measure that has been campaigned for and has played an essential role in preventing overweight and obesity issues in communities.
Labeling foods containing high amounts of fat is law enforcement that has helped individuals avoid and control the intake of lots of fat. Ensuring that individuals understand the nutritional facts about the food they are consuming helps to take into account the calorie intake.
Changes and Recommendations
Taking small steps in our everyday life to prevent obesity is a preventive measure to combat the rates at which people become overweight and obese. The livelihood is the first step to keeping oneself healthy. Taking California, for instance, getting active outside, is an essential physical activity. California has several parks such as Griffith Park, Yosemite national park, redwood national and state parks, and many other parks located strategically all over the country. There are playgrounds where kids can play and do many other activities. Utilizing these resources can help in preventing obesity. Limiting the time that we sit and watch television is a small step to avoid fat accumulation in our bodies. Replacing fast foods with more fruits and vegetables is another step to improve healthy living.
The community should work hand in hand with the health improvement plan is essential activities to help prevent obesity. This involves making healthy food available, affordable, and accessible. This way, families will be empowered to adopt a healthy lifestyle. This is a program that would mainly help in the prevention of childhood obesity.
Therapy programs for people with obesity should be more accessible and affordable. Protecting obese people from stereotypes who attribute that obesity is a result of laziness should be harshly dealt with. The society should take the initiative in acknowledging that obesity is a chronic disease with an uncertain etiology and long-life condition for most obese individuals. Though some individuals have argued that a stigma is a useful tool in fighting obesity, shame is known for promoting unhealthy eating behavior and minimal physical behavior (Puhl & Heuer, 2010). 79% of people dealing with stigma have been reported eating more food to make themselves feel better. Rather than using shame to condemn weight loss, accepting this individual and encouraging them to adopt better dietary behavior and more physical activity is the better way of dealing with obesity.
Conclusion
The public health campaign against obesity should be all about informing and calling action to the general population. Well-executed communication plans by continuous population rallies and reaching out to the marginalized groups will provide the public with facts about the dangers and costs of obesity.
I would influence the fight against stigmatization of people with obesity by writing anti-stigma messages and articles. A podcast of people who have recovered from obesity would change their perception of obese individuals. Sadly, no federal legislation that protects obese people from discrimination based on their weight.