Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

COMMUNITY
HEALTH AND
DISEASE
OBESITY PREVENTION IN CHILDREN AND YOUTH

Introduction
Approximately 24% of children
and youth aged 5 to 14 years
were found to be overweight and
obese in Australia during 2017 to
2018 (Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare, 2018). The
following sections briefly
expounds upon key components
of a health promotion program.

Interventions
1. Nutritional educational and assessment sessions concerning balanced diet
consumption and healthy weight comprising of parents, children and youth. This is because
the consumption of high fat, sugar and sodium beverages and foods have been linked to
lack of health literacy. Childhood obesity has been linked to eating patterns followed by
parents (Demir & Bektas, 2017).
2. Practical demonstrations where children, youth and parents will be involved in healthy
cooking sessions, nutritional label interpretation and cost effective, nutritious food
selection. This is because consumption of high fat, sugar and sodium beverages and foods
has been linked to misinterpretation of labels, convenience, less knowledge on healthy
cooking and consumption of inexpensive, energy dense foods in low income group families
(Jarpe-Ratner et al., 2016).
3. Exercise interventions will include both parents, youth and children since obesity has
been linked to increased sedentary lifestyles (Ham et al., 2016).
4. Weekly counseling feedback sessions will be included for motivation since obesity has
been linked to poor psychological outcomes (Barlow et al., 2018).

Health Promotion
1. Primary: Educational and assessment
sessions such as practitioners and nurses
educating parents, children and youth on
balanced diet intake along with weight
measurement.
2. Secondary: Specialist services where
nutritionists, fitness experts and counselors
will demonstrate practical sessions of
healthy cooking, food selection, exercise
and label interpretation to parents, youth
and children (Daniels, 2019).