Public health programs for obesity Assignment 2022

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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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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

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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

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proposed by HM for prevention of school-based obesity are futile in extracting
significant results.
Another significant gap in the action plan proposed by HM is, it does address
the importance of the mental health of the young individuals in the primary schools
and how improving their mental health condition will be effective in promoting the
effective weight reduction. Mühlig et al. (2014) stated that in England, 15% of the
young people who are in their primary schools are over-weight and 6.3% are obese.
Thus the emphasis is given on prevention however, treatment of children and
adolescents with obesity, still remain an important issue for the healthcare policy.
Childhood obesity persist a strong likelihood to be transferred into adulthood. In
order to prevent childhood obesity, part from emphasizing on the physical health
interventions, mental health of the young individuals must further be taken under
active consideration. However, conservative treatment for childhood obesity mainly
focuses on the physical interventions rather than emphasizing on the mental health
interventions. Rankin et al. (2016) stated that childhood obesity is negatively
associated with the psychological co-morbidities like depression and lower score on
the perceived quality of life. In order to encourage the individuals to take active part
in the healthy life-style interventions, it is important to implement psychological
interventions in the preliminary step. This will be followed by addressing the
physiological perspectives associated with gaining weight. Small and Aplasca (2016)
stated that mental and weight-based challenges are pervasive among the youths.
Childhood obesity and mental treatment strategies share several common factors.
Thus, a wide variety of interventions are required in order to make a significant
impact on the common problems associated with childhood obesity and other
psychological disturbances. Addressing both the obesity and mental wellness
through a healthy lifestyle approach appears to be feasible and effective and thus
require inter-professional collaboration. Diverse conceptualization of these issues is
important for strategically aligned interventions that must be implemented at
personal level, family, community, policy and school-based level.
Importance of separate interventions for adult and children
Brown et al. (2015) review highlighted that Home-based family oriented
interventions like diet and physical activity are effective in promoting significant

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improvements in the BMI and waist circumference of the adults in comparison to the
children. Another systematic review research conducted by National Institute for
Health Research (2015) showed that interventions that aim towards preventing
reducing and effective management for obesity, do not increase the health-related
inequalities. For the children, the most-effective form of intervention includes family-
related interventions, environmental interventions and empowered interventions. For
the adults, the effective interventions are primary care intervention that tailored the
customized need of adults in the domain of weight-loss. The results further showed
that the customized interventions are more effective for the women in comparison to
males. The systematic review and meta-analysis conducted by Simmonds et al.
(2016), showed that obese children and adolescents are five-times more likely to
become obese in comparison to who are not obese. Thus, actions are needed for
the prevention obesity among the obese children in comparison to the children who
are not obese. The study also showed that targeting obesity for adults and the
children must be done with the help of the different interventions. Overall analysis of
the paper highlighted the importance of the separate set of intervention for the
children and the adults for the prevention of obesity.
Tailored intervention for the younger individuals
Moreover, only school or family-based interventions might not be suitable for
fetching quality-related outcomes. In order to influence the children to indulge in
healthy lifestyle interventions, tailored approaches must be designed. Taylor et al.
(2015) conducted randomized control trial that showed that individually tailored
family-centred intervention mainly focus on the behavioural interventions with the
help of the evidence-based practice guidelines. This kind of intervention helps in
preventing excess weight gain and obesity among adolescents and children. Low
participation rates, poor availability of the program, non-adherence rate are regarded
as the barriers for promoting positive outcomes. Low family functioning, lack of
motivation further affects the overall outcome of weight loss. Smith et al. (2018)
regarded obesity among the primary school students (adolescents) as a multifaceted
health-related problem). In order to address such problem, the first aspect that must
be taken under active consideration include mental aspect of the individuals.
Understanding the mental aspect (degree of depression and poor self-esteem) will

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be followed by designing of the targeted interventions for promoting weight loss.
Active involvement of the family members, group-based interventions, community-
level activity programs and giving education about health eating might prove to be
effective in promoting weight loss among the young individuals in the primary
schools. Reducing obesity will help in improving the overall well-being of the young
individuals and thereby helping to attain a healthy adulthood.
Conclusion
Thus from the above discussion it can be stated that the public health
program in the UK that are targeted for the prevention of the childhood obesity are
in-effective in promoting effective health-related outcomes in several different ways.
For example, the government failed to reduce the sugar content of the
confectionaries. Moreover, several surveys also showed that school-based
interventions might not be effective in fetching quality health-related outcomes. On
the other hand, effort must be taken to design family based interventions targeting
the tailored need for the adolescents. Under the tailored need of the interventions
both mental and physical health needs of the young individuals at the primary school
must be taken into consideration. The health educational program at the school level
must be under the presence of the trained dietician and professional nutritionist. The
paper also helped in understanding the importance of the separate health-related
interventions for adults and the adolescents. Overall it can be stated that public
health approaches for the reduction of the obesity among the young individuals at
the primary schools are not comprehensive. In order to promote effective outcome,
more targeted interventions are required to be designed at the individual level under
consulting with the professionals, school teachers and the family members.

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References
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Gallagher, J., 2019. Efforts to cut sugar out of food way off target. BBC News.
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49768817
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