Community Health and Disease Prevention

COMMUNITY HEALTH AND DISEASE PREVENTION 1
Community health and disease prevention
Name
Institutional Affiliation

COMMUNITY HEALTH AND DISEASE PREVENTION 2
Introduction
Community health is a field of study which majorly focuses on protection, maintenance, and
healthcare impartments among population groups and communities by examining the health
characteristics over time (Reisner et al.2015). It can be majorly achieved by health promotion
which involves the empowering the community in order to give them control over their health.
This can be achieved through various ways including health literacy efforts and multi-sectional
actions which improves healthy behavior, this considers the activities in people's lives with are
believed to be contributing to the causes and spread of the diseases. It involves the population
dietary behaviors, sociocultural, environmental conditions, demographic factors and economic
factors that are considered key to influencing the populations' healthcare ( Murdaugh, Parsons &
Pender 2018). However, disease prevention is different from health promotion as its focus aims
at suppressing the development and the seriousness of chronic diseases and other forms of illness
(Piepoli et al., 2016). Health promotion and disease control are the crucial determinants of health
standards, as they influence decisions made by individuals towards positive health behavior. Like
decisions concerning poor eating habits, lack physical exercise and tobacco use and other eating
behaviors which would otherwise contribute to chronic diseases if not controlled positively.
Obesity best described as an excessive accumulation of body fat which poses a health risk to
individuals. It is diagnosed when the body mass index BMI is 30 or higher. The measurement of
the body mass index is calculated by the division of one’s weight in kilograms with the height in
meters. The disorder occurs when one consumes more calories compared to calories which are
burned in the body, this arises from poor diet and eating habit among the affected persons.

COMMUNITY HEALTH AND DISEASE PREVENTION 3
According to WHO, 14 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese by the year
2016. With over 340 million youths between the age of 5-19 being overweight or obese by the
same year of 2016.
The problem related to obesity is pervasive in many developing countries whereby the people
do not practice healthy diet and eating habits, in this case, the paper focuses on malnutrition
among the children and the youths of the community in Mexico. Mexico is a country high
population with a GDP of about $1.5 trillion with the healthcare sector spending of up to about
6.5% of the GDP. The country has undergone various environmental and cultural changes which
have impacted on the communities’ lifestyle and well-being. Children obesity is on the increase
with the prevalence of about 36.9% by the year 2012 and about 35.8% in the adolescent
population (Aceves-Martins, Llaurado, Tarro, Sola & Giralt 2016). This high rate of prevalence
results from the transition in nutritional lifestyle from traditional homemade diets to commercial
and fast food diets. Other causes are lack of physical activity, genetic alteration, and social-
cultural changes.
Obesity is very critical here as it impacts the people’s lives negatively by lowering body
functionality, causes illness and even death in eventuality. Besides, the country’s workforce is
significantly reducing as people suffering from diseases related to obese conditions are unable to
participate in production activities resulting to slow economic growth.
The government of Mexico had put in place several remedies to ensure the effects of
malnutrition is effectively mitigated. This was achieved by the imposition of taxation on sugar-
sweetened beverages which led to a decline in the purchase of beverages (Charvel, Cobo &

COMMUNITY HEALTH AND DISEASE PREVENTION 4
Hernández-Ávila 2015). Enacting comprehensive food and safety policies which would require
the food providers to clearly labeling of menu nutrition, dietary guidelines, and regulations
concerning marketing. With this information, the community will be able to consume food in
accordance with their health conditions, this would reduce chances of getting obese and will
enable people with obesity live consume a healthy diet hence containing their conditions.
However, a lot is needed to be done to save the situation in Mexico and developing countries.
The government, the international community, and the non-governmental organizations should
undertake many efforts in conjunction with the local community in coming up with much better
and efficient ways of ensuring sustainability in the production of healthy food across the whole
country.
Health promotion strategy
This can be done through health education. According to five-year research conducted by the
Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut whereby 12 schools
were randomly chosen to take part in the program in New Haven. The research which involved
600 students showed that the students at the schools randomized to receive nutritional education
had an increase of 1% compared to the students in other conditions whereas BMI increased by
3% to 4% (Larson & Story 2015). Health education program enhances primary prevention
through the provision of counseling and provision of referral to the healthcare facilities by the
educators. The programs also emphasize on healthy eating which is a preventive measure against
the occurrence of obesity. The program is also key in addressing secondary prevention whereby
the focus is put on the obese youths with target goals of improving their dietary intake. The