Public health programs for obesity Assignment 2022

Running head: NURSING
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1NURSING
What are the arguments for taking the public health to obesity rather than addressing
the problems as it arrives for individuals. Discuss relevant research to support your
answer. (Obesity in students at primary school and how it affects their life)
Introduction
According to the World Health Organization [WHO] (2019), over-weight and
obesity are defined as excessive or abnormal accumulation of fat in the body that
increases the vulnerability of developing several health-related complications. Public
Health England [PHE] (2019) reported that young people who are in their primary
school are main victim of obesity. Nearly one out of 3 students who are in their
primary school are obese. The rate of obesity is highest among the deprived in
comparison to the population who are under higher socio-economic status. Obesity
harms young people in many ways. Psychological consequences of obesity include
depression arising out of poor self-esteem, stigmatisation and bullying. Physiological
aspects of obesity include high level of blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, pre-
diabetic condition, breathing problems, joint pain. The psychological and
physiological problems arising due to obesity lead to school absenteeism. Thus
obesity among the young people is a potential public health concern.
The following assignment aims to argue whether the public health approaches
are failing to tackle obesity. The assignment will also elucidate whether there is a
need for having separate obesity prevention programs for the adults and the
children.
Public health programs for obesity
Her Majesty’s [HM] Government (2016) of the UK proposed a plan for action
for regulating childhood obesity in the UK. The first approach for the childhood
obesity prevention plan is introduction of the soft drinks industry levy across the UK
and revenue generated through levy will be invested in school based programs in
order to encourage the young children in physical activity and consumption of
balanced diets. The second plan include introduction of the sugar reduction
programme (20% of sugar reduction) for removing sugars from the consumable
products that are popular among the children (by the end of 2020). This programme
will be run by the PHE and will be applicable to all the major food joints. The main

2NURSING
food items of focus will include cakes, confectionaries, biscuits, breakfast cereals,
puddings, ice creams and biscuits.
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) (2018) funded a year long
programme over 5 to 4 primary schools in England in order to ascertain the school-
based lifestyle programme for reducing the rate of obesity among the young children
of schools. The interviews included diet and physical activity. The results failed to
show any significant improvement in the BMI ratio. Thus, NIHR stated that school-
based obesity prevention programme is in-effective in reducing the obesity. The
survey conducted by National Health Service (NHS) (2018) further strengthened the
facts highlighted by the NIHR. NHS stated that schools are not an answer to
childhood obesity. The results of interventions like cooking workshops, physical
activity were disappointing suggesting that schools, though play a significant role in
the life of the children, may not be as vital as the families and other wider aspects of
the society in making a significant change in the lifestyle habits. The randomised
control trial conducted by Lloyd et al. (2016) showed that the school-based
interventions are in-effective in reducing obesity among the young. In the domain of
reducing the sugar content in the diet, the BBC news documented by Gallagher
(2019) reported that the efforts to cut the 20% of the sugar content from the deserts
went out of target as per the figures reported by the PHE. Rather than decreasing
the sugar content by 20%, the percentage increased by 2.9%.
HM action plan for the prevention of the childhood obesity also focused on
developing framework for updating nutrient profile model while making healthy
options available under the public sectors and encouraging children to enjoy one
hour of physical activity (PA). According to the educator perspectives, it can be
stated that schools are the predominant driving force for promoting PA among the
children. However, poor teacher to coach relationships significantly reduced the PA
promotion opportunities (Domville et al. 2018). Jarpe-Ratner et al. (2018) stated that
an experimental cooking session along with nutrition based education program,
increases the level of cooking efficacy among the young adults or teenagers while
increasing the rate of vegetable consumption between the age group of 8 to 15
years. However, such nutritional education and cooking related tips must be
circulated by trained nutritionist and other professional chefs along with presence of
the family members of mothers. Thus, it can be stated that, public health approaches