Health Economics: Application and Policy

This article discusses the application and policy of health economics in addressing obesity among children and adolescents. It explores the implementation of BMI screening and the cost effectiveness of health programs. The budget, time frame, and stakeholder involvement are also analyzed. Recommendations for successful program implementation are provided.

Running head: HEALTH ECONOMICS: APPLICATION AND POLICY
HEALTH ECONOMICS: APPLICATION AND POLICY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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HEALTH ECONOMICS: APPLICATION AND POLICY
Introduction
Obesity is a major factor in present situation that affects the physical body of people
around the world. The Obesity among the children and the adolescents are the factors that affect
the healthy living practices of the children and also leads to several chronic diseases. The factor
of the body mass index (BMI) of the children of school can be an effective factor for the
treatment of the disease as the early detection would lead to a proper assessment of the disease
(Ogden et al., 2015). The early assessment also help in the factor of the treatment of the disease
in a better way that impact on the living style of the children and leads to a obesity free
community. However, the BMI screening is not a factor that considered by the Australian
government and it needed to be implemented for addressing the issue of the obesity. The factor
of the BMI screening was a process adopted by the US government in the schools and the
Australian government also routing to implementation of the process (Furukawa et al., 2017).
The following section will assess the economic factors of the implementation of the process. The
BMI index scorecard also would be described in the following section along with the cost
effectiveness of the process.
Discussion
Evaluation
The implementation of the BMI screening is considered by the state government and the
bill was passed for the implementation of the process in the schools. The bill states that the need
of the BMI screening of the children obesity level and the risk factors of the situation are needed

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to be recorded. Based on the screening report the government would implement different health
care and health promotion program for the children of the 5 to 12 grade (Freedman et al., 2017).
The program would need to be assessed on the basis of the risk factor of the disease and the
requirement of the health care program as well. The factor of the health program would be
assessed by the economist for the cost effectiveness of the program and the cost utility of the
process. The BMI screening of the children of the 5 to 12 grade found to be a very important
issue as most of the children found with mal diet that is the fat input is higher and the nutritional
aspect of the diet is very low (Zhou et al., 2016). The outcome of the screening found that the
health literacy of the parents and the children about the obesity is lower than required thus the
health promotion and the behavioural therapy would be needed to be implemented for the
prevention of the ill effects of obesity on the children and the adolescent population of the
country. State government should be able incorporate regulatory action by means of
implementing child care laws in order to provide the children with a healthy living condition and
prevent the obesity of the community. The risk factors of the obesity are the development of
early diabetes, renal disease, ophthalmic disease and other gastro-intestinal diseases. These
factors should be checked by means of the BMI screening and the health programs on the basis
of the screening. The economic factor of the health program would also need to be analysed on
the basis of the cost effectiveness and the time frame of the process for the success in the
prevention of the obesity among the young people. According to the study among the Australian
population it has been seen that 42% of the obese people are in young and adolescent group (The
Heart Foundation, 2019). The process should consume less time and also provide proper
knowledge about the problems of the disease. The factor of the BMI indexing should be recorded
in a score card format for every student of the school and the students would be divided

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according to the age and height. The differences before the health program and after the
implementation of the process would also be assessed by the workers for a better outcome
assessment of the program. The BMI scorecard would help in the assessment of the condition of
the community children health. The economist would plan the budget and the time of the process
on the basis of the requirement of the instruments and resources and the stakeholder
involvement. The regular observation of the condition of the BMI of the children would be
needed about one month interval and the health program would be done in a time frame of the
six months would be ideal (Kalani, Salimi & Rafiei, 2015).
Analysis
The analysis of the budget of the program would be done prior the program and the
assessment would be done by the economist for the better planning of the task. The program
should be done on the basis of the BMI scorecard of the students of the school. It is found that
the BMI scorecard shows above 95 percent obesity among 60 percent of the children of the
school of the 5 to 12 grade (Jabłonowska-Lietz et al., 2017). The budget of the program should
be in this critical case focused on the cost effective and the cost utility of the program and the
cost utility of the program would be assessed on the basis of the national level effect of the
program. As the success of the program would lead to lessening the effect of the obesity on the
children and the adolescent people of the country thus the government will not have to provide
health allowances to a large amount of people as the rate of the obesity among the young people
would be lessened by the program. The program would be done with volunteers and health care
personnel, doctors and the government personnel. The project would be done for 2 days a week

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and the program would be done in a time frame of six months. All these factors would be
assessed by the economist. The budget of the program would be as follows:
Criteria Time Total Cost (AUD)
Advertisement 1000
Health care personnel:
10 Nurses
2 Health educators
Doctor
4 hours per week for six months 48000
9600
76800
Project manager 4 hours per week for six months 57600
10 volunteers 4 hours per week for six months 9600
15 Community workers 4 hours per week for six months 14400
Health care instruments 2000
Stationeries 500
Transportation 5000
Logistics 2000
Total 24 weeks 226500
Table 1: probable budget of the program
On the basis of this budget it can be stated that the process is a cost effective process as
the empowerment of the children and the parents will help in the prevention of the obesity
among the young people of the country. The effect of the program would reflect on the BMI rate
of the children of the school which can be analysed on the basis of the regular observation of the

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BMI rate, diet, living style and other factors. The change will be helpful in the national cost
utility aspect as it will help in the formation of a nation with less obesity among the young
people. This factor will effectively help the government in lessening the wage for the obesity
prevention and other diseases formed due to the obesity. The key factor that would be helpful in
the health promotion and health care program is the BMI score card implementation and the
record of the BMI scorecard would help in the assessment of the condition of the school children
and their health condition as well. The BMI score card would be the factor of the record of the
obesity among the school. The child Care national association would also be incorporated in the
program for the legal and regulatory aspect following for the health program. The whole
program should consider the factors of the Child Care Act 1972 for the better assessment of the
BMI rate among the child and providing improved care to them ("Child Care Act 1972", 2019).
The following would be the BMI score card for the BMI index assessment:

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Figure: BMI scorecard
Source: (Skillsyouneed.com, 2019)
Recommendation
For the success of the health program several aspects should be taken into account such
as the budget of the program, time frame, man power, and stakeholder and participant
assessment. In order to successfully implement all the factors and the success of the program the
cost of the program should be analysed and on the basis of the analysis the non-useful factors
should be eliminated from the process (Bartels et al., 2015). After the elimination of the factors
the budget should be analysed again in order to finding the sustainability of the process. On the
other hand the economic aspect of the program should be assessed on the basis of the time frame

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of the BMI screening and the health program (Brauer et al., 2015). The time of the process
should be lessened by means of using extra man power and also using the volunteers who are
interested in this field to lessen the budget of the program and it will also provide extra hands of
the program as well. Other than all these factors the most important factor is to attract the
participants in the program. The stakeholder analysis and appraisal would be recommended for
attracting children and the parents of the children in the program. The factor of the appraisal
could be done with the help providing some health diagnosis to the parents and the children and
also demonstrating the importance of the program (Grossman et al., 2017). The fact of the
obesity if demonstrated properly then the attraction to the program would rise. The changes after
the health program would also be done in a regular interval to demonstrate the success of the
program and the effect of the lowering the rate of the obesity that is the overweight would be
helpful in the awareness rise among the parents and the children as well. The healthy living
practices should be observed and analysed by the workers of the program for the determination
of the success for the program. The economic factor along with the time of the program would be
assessed for the betterment of the condition and the effectiveness of the program as well. The
time frame along with the proper budget of the process is the factor that helps in the economic
analysis and the cost effectiveness of the program (Xu & Xue, 2016). The program should also
consider the regulations of the child care of the country as it will be needed for the government
consent for the program. The factor of the incorporation of the government personnel and the
national health care policies are helpful in the promotion of the program among large amount of
people. The factor of the knowledge development about the obesity and the effects of the
condition on the physical and the mental should be the primary focus for the success of the
program (Dietz et al., 2015).

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Conclusion
Based on the above discussion it can be concluded that the BMI indexing in a regular
basis for the students of school can be very much effective in the obesity prevention among the
young people. The factor of the economy can be assessed on the basis of the cost utility in the
field of the national economic effectiveness. The health program developed can be helpful in
lowering the obesity of among the young people that would be helpful in the prevention of
several chronic diseases thus the wages for the health care by the government would be lessened.
Hence, the factor of the BMI indexing and the health care program along with the health
promotion program can be helpful for the community. The factor of the obesity control is the
national need as the prevalence of the disease is higher in present days. The adaptation of the
BMI indexing would help the people of the country in the knowledge development of the disease
and the preventing motivation as well. The proper budget and the effective health promotion
would be the factor of the success of the program adaptation. The process would be done with
the partnership of the government and the health care organizations of the country in order to
sustain the budget of the program.

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