Childhood Obesity as a Public Health Issue in Australia: Government Strategies and Role of Nurses

This essay discusses childhood obesity as a public health issue in Australia, its causes, consequences, and the government's national strategy for prevention. It also highlights the role of nurses in implementing this strategy while working with modern families and communities. The essay emphasizes the need for healthy lifestyle and plenty of active play so that children grow and learn to their full potential.

Running head: ASSESSMENT TASK 3
Assessment task 3
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Obesity is one of the biggest public health issues that are concerning communities and
families across the country. In about 70% of the countries, obesity has become an epidemic and
rated as one of the priority health issues worldwide (Flegal and Ogden 2011). In the last decade,
national obesity rate has increased especially among the age group 4-17 year olds referred as
childhood obesity as compared to adult population (Smith and Smith 2016). In Australia,
childhood obesity rates have increased with an estimated rate of 18.5% among children although
rates vary among different age groups and rising along with age (Swinburn and Wood 2013).
Obesity rates have tripled among children as compared to adults and countries are developing
strategies to counter this public health issue. Children are consuming high calorie foods and
beverages more than body consumption along with less physical activity that is resulting is extra
weight gain over time. Eating, physical activity behaviours, metabolism, short sleep and
community design contribute to childhood obesity. Obese children are at high risk of chronic
diseases like heart disease, diabetes, sleep apnea eating disorders, cardiomyopathy that greatly
influence their physical and psychological health (Lloyd, Langley-Evans and McMullen 2012).
Obesity prevention is important, as childhood obesity is associated with poor academic
performance and increasing risk for depression. There is need for healthy lifestyle and plenty of
active play so that children grow and learn to their full potential. Therefore, the following essay
focuses on childhood obesity as a public issue and established government strategies addressing
it along with role of nurse in implementing this strategy for childhood prevention while working
with modern families and communities in Australia.
There is increasing rates of childhood obesity witnessed in Australia where every one in
four children is obese or overweight. For Australians children between the ages 4 to 17 years,
obesity is a serious and concerning conditions, that is affecting their physical and psychological

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well-being due to poor self-esteem and stigmatization. According to the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Australians ranked 10 out of 40 countries
where children are obese accounting for 24% of obese children (Millar et al. 2011). Childhood
obesity is associated with long-term effects that hinder longevity of individuals and predispose to
serious diseases during adulthood. The causes of childhood obesity are a combination of socio-
environmental as well as individual choices along with genetic factors. According to the
Australian Health Survey, genetics play a vital role in the determination of genetics as 90% of
Australians were at risk of obesity as their mothers had epigenetic modifications at the time of
pregnancy (Sanders et al. 2015).
The reason for childhood obesity being a serious public issue faced by modern families is
that it is greatly influenced by diet and parents. Parents and teachers play an important role in
influencing children to develop liking for food and unhealthy diet can have negative effect on
their growth and development during the early years (Mitchell et al. 2013). However, the
scenario is different; as parents do not motivate their children to develop an intrinsic for healthy
foods rather they prefer to eat high carbohydrate content foods. As a result, they are predisposed
to sedentary lifestyle and increased risk of overweight or obesity. In Australia, more than 1.2
million children between the ages 3 to 17 years were obese especially prevalent among low
socioeconomic groups with 34.7% obese children as compared to 22.3% in high socioeconomic
groups (Schultz 2012). Furthermore, obesity rates are high among the indigenous children in
Australia contributing to 10% as compared to 6% non-indigenous children. This statistics
illustrates that overweight and obesity is prevalent among children belonging to socioeconomic
disadvantaged areas observed by the remoteness of the area (ncci.canceraustralia.gov.au 2017).

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Therefore, there is need for strategy to address this issue that is faced by modern families in
Australia.
Groups like Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (TSI) tend to have higher number of
overweight children as compared to non-indigenous people accounting to 20% to 25% of the
total population (O’Dea and Dibley 2014). This statistics highlight the fact that disadvantaged
area in Australia need to be targeted as prevailing overweight condition among indigenous
children can increase the chances of developing medical conditions like diabetes, breathlessness,
tiredness, exertion, flat feet and heat tolerance. As a result, children are vulnerable to decreased
self-confidence and self-esteem having a negative impact on their proper growth and
development. The Australian government need to understand the consequences of increasing
rates of childhood obesity faced by modern families and reset their understanding regarding
normal weight as there is a disconnect in the society of what normal weight means. It is difficult
to raise healthy weight within the modern Australian families, as they are unable to understand
the negative impact of overweight or obese condition on the physical, emotional and
psychological wellbeing of their children (Rawlins et al. 2013).
Another reason for selecting this topic is that obesity treatment is not equitable in
Australia. There is an insidious problem that is associated with obesity crisis is the uneven
distribution of prevention and treatment of obesity especially among children belonging to
disadvantaged groups. This fact illustrates that Australia is facing the most significant health
issue as obese children predispose to become obese adults and it is greatly required to normalize
weight and inculcate healthy eating among them (Pulgarón 2013). Healthy practices that would
be established during the early years of their life like physical exercise and balanced diet
continued through adolescence and adulthood can help in preventing and reducing the risk of

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developing chronic disease conditions. It is important to identify and reverse this condition
before the children reach adulthood as obesity has serious negative impact on how children view
themselves and interact with their peers in turn influencing their aspects of life like competency
at schools and friendship development. Through this assignment, serious health issue of
childhood obesity can be highlighted faced by modern Australian families and better support
through established government strategy involving the role of nurses in the implementation while
working with them.
Considering the greatest public health issue of childhood obesity confronted by Australia,
the government has developed a national strategy of National Prevention Health Strategy,
Obesity in Australia: a need for urgent action by National Preventative Health Taskforce in
May 2009. This Taskforce provides initiatives and recommendations along with actions that can
contribute to informing and enhancing work of The Council of Australian Governments (COAG)
National Partnership on Preventive Health in the targeted area that in turn provide effective and
sustainable national response to obesity and overweight in Australia (health.gov.au 2018). The
main target area is prevention of obesity in Australia, although there is no singular approach or
simple solution to prevent it (Sallis, Owen and Fisher 2015). Learning by doing approach or
staged trialling that comprises of interventions followed by monitoring and evaluation can be
helpful in preventing childhood obesity. Another approach is behaviour change that acts as
essential component in fighting childhood obesity, however it is a complex process for children
as it extends beyond their education and information provision.
The aim of this national strategy is to reverse and halt the rise in obesity and
overweight condition in Australia with a purpose of establishing Healthy Australia by 2020.
There are ranges of targets that have been agreed by COAG relevant to childhood obesity that

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are routinely monitored, evaluated by the Taskforce with appropriate interim and long-term
targets under this strategy. The Agreement has set medium to long-term goals for preventing
obesity in Australia. The target audience of this strategy are children, parents, guardians and
teachers in schools along with healthcare professionals including nurses. The strategy is aimed at
increasing the proportion of healthy body weight by 3% among children and adults within 10
years. It also sets to increase the proportion of physical activity and healthy eating by 15%
among children and adults within 6 years (health.gov.au 2018). Furthermore, the strategy aims to
assist Australian children to lead a healthy life from the start of life that includes positive
parenting and community support putting an emphasis on newborns as genetics play an
important role in overweight due to epigenetic modifications in pregnant women.
The first key area of this strategy is to reshape the supply of food towards low risk
products and encouraging physical activity among children for a healthy living. For this, the
Australian government is reviewing the taxation system for enabling access to active recreation
and healthy foods. The government is increasing tax breaks for fitness products and recreational
activities at schools and workplaces along with providing healthy foods. Disincentives are
provided for unhealthy foods as they have increased the taxes for energy-dense foods. This
strategy can be helpful as it makes manufacturers to change production processes in order to
reduce sugar, fat or salt content for maintaining their market share. There is also regulation of
amount of saturated fats, trans fats and sugar content available in the foods along with
subsidization for fresh food transportation in remote and rural areas. This can be helpful in
promoting healthy living among Aboriginals and TSI as they have poor access to nutritious foods
and obesity treatment (health.gov.au 2018).

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The second key area is protection of children from inappropriate advertising and
marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages. Inappropriate advertising and promotion of
unhealthy foods prohibition during children hours from 6:00am to 9:00pm along with reduction
or removal of advertisements in other media like internet, print, radio and in-stores
(health.gov.au 2018).
The third key area is development of adequately funded, effective and long-term public
education campaigns for improving levels of physical activity and eating habits through targeted
public education and media advertising for targeted populations. A national system of food can
be helpful in enhancing food labelling supporting healthy choices and providing comprehensible
information on saturated and trans fats, sugar and fat content and standard serve sizes. This can
be applied at food halls, restaurants and takeaway shops (health.gov.au 2018).
Another key priority area is reshaping of urban environments towards active living and
healthy eating. School communities need to be encouraged to support initiatives like healthy
breakfast and lunch, walking to school bus and removal of junk foods from vending machines.
Development of evidence-based guidelines like policy development towards healthy eating,
cycling, walking, using stairs can help to encourage active living among children (health.gov.au
2018).
Strengthening, up skilling and supporting primary healthcare workforce so that they
encourage people to undertake healthier choices is also a key priority area. There should be
proper training of healthcare professionals including dieticians and nutritionists so that they
disseminate evidence-based guidelines on healthy eating and physical exercise to children and
their parents at schools and homes. There should be funding of programs that educate parents

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and teachers about healthy eating and physical activity along with obesity and overweight
management (health.gov.au 2018).
As mentioned above, genetics also acts as predisposing factor for childhood obesity due
to epigenetic modifications during pregnancy; maternal health is another key concern. Targeted
programs are required that encourage healthy eating among pregnant women and breastfeeding
for infants. As the statistics suggests, Aboriginals and TSI are the most disadvantaged groups
that experience high rates of obesity among children, therefore strategies are required for closing
the gap for these marginalized groups. Tailored approaches are required that reach out to
indigenous populations and low-income groups while working in partnership with local
governments for promoting healthy eating environments in schools and communities
(health.gov.au 2018).
Although, this strategy seems beneficial in curbing childhood obesity in Australia, there
are certain barriers that may hinder its success. Australia greatly lacks a comprehensive national
food strategy and policy. This sort of policy is of paramount importance in terms of preventative
health and reduction of overweight and obesity in Australia. Comprehensive research at the
national level is required for obesity by expanding the physical activity survey and nutrition to
indigenous population ensuring inclusion of risk of chronic diseases (health.gov.au 2018). For
achieving this long-term strategy along with sustainability is difficult as it is resource-intensive
and time-consuming. This change cannot take place in a fortnight and require cooperative
partnership between every levels of government for halting and reversing rise in overweight and
obesity in Australia

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. Nurses can play an important role in the implementation of this strategy through primary
prevention for preventing the development of serious secondary complications during attainment
of adulthood. Nurses can assist children and parents by giving nutritional advice and advocating
the weight management programs. Furthermore, nurses can offer strategies to them for
increasing physical exercise and decreasing calorie consumption. A whole-family approach can
be undertaken by the nurses for obese children in altering their physical habits or diet that is
otherwise nit supported by their families and schools. Nurses need to work in collaboration with
multidisciplinary team including nutritionists and dieticians for addressing childhood obesity in
schools and communities (Rabbitt and Coyne 2012). Nurses can provide additional training to
children in managing their weight and training workshop for facilitating obesity prevention
included in child health check up.
Nurse-led interventions can be helpful in counselling children and their parents on
healthy activity and diet habits along with feeding practices changing parents’ intention. Nurses
can work in partnership with community centres in disadvantaged areas in educating Aboriginals
and TSI on healthy eating and physical activity interventions in their native language so that they
feel respected and valued. Indigenous population in Australia are culturally sensitive and
therefore, nurses can work with the local people in educating them to prepare healthy foods and
adopt behaviours that align with their culture. In this way, nurses are in perfect position for
helping obese children and at the forefront in better understanding of their condition. A
nutritionist guided by nurse can help children and their parents in developing a meal and exercise
plan in addition with lifestyle changes (Morrison-Sandberg, Kubik and Johnson 2011). Nurses
have access to schools that can help in screening, diagnosis, counselling and continuum of care.
As school settings provide opportunities for health information and education, it is advisable that

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school nurses can help children to be exposed to healthy education provided by teachers, school
staffs and peers. Nurses can direct and coordinate school health programs by enhancing physical
activity behaviours like walking, jogging, walking to school bus and reduction in body mass
index among children especially minorities (Wright et al. 2013). Therefore, it can be stated that
for the implementation of this national health strategy, nurses can play a vital role as they look
holistically at the children’s condition of overweight and obesity and can work towards
education and health promotion within the communities.
From the above discussion it can be concluded that although, childhood obesity is a
serious public health issue concerning modern families, physical activity and improvement in
diet can be helpful in preventing, halting and reversing the condition of overweight and obesity
among Australian communities. This involves implementation of national health strategy as
designed by Taskforce in preventing obesity among children and others along with
policymaking. This involves implementation of physical activity and dietary behaviours that can
lead to significant decrease and prevention of overweight and obesity among children. For the
implementation of this strategy, nurses can play an important role by educating and encouraging
children about healthy eating and consequences of unhealthy eating that increases the risk of
chronic diseases as they reach adulthood. Although, there is no such country that has been
successful in reversing the rising levels of obesity and overweight, still national food strategy
and policy reforms can be helpful in reducing the increasing rates of childhood obesity in
Australia.

10ASSESSMENT TASK 3
References
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