400285 : Report On a Public Health Campaign

Running head: OBESITY IN AUSTRALIA
Obesity in Australia
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OBESITY IN AUSTRALIA1
Introduction:
The increasing cost of the health sector and risk factors related to obesity has been well
documented in past few years. From this perspective, it is crucial that the propensity of
individual towards obesity is analyzed. According to the statistical report, obesity affects the
majority of the women compared to men living in Australia (Backholer, et al., 2017). This essay
will argue that there are certain contributing social and biological factors that facilitate the
prevalence of obesity in Australia. Therefore, this paper will illustrate the challenges and issues,
contributing factors that enhance the issue, counter measures for reducing the prevalence of
obesity in Australia.
Challenges and issues:
According to the statistical evidence furnished by the Australian bureau of statistics, out
of four adults in Australia, one adult was obese in 2009. Over the last two decades, there was a
steady shift in the Australian population towards the higher end of body index that is driven by
mainly weight gain rather than the changes in the height (Backholer, et al., 2017). A report by
the world health organization suggested that majority of the women in Australia was
experiencing obesity which was estimated to be 2.5 million (Kim et al., 2017). Consequently, the
economic burden increased over the decade (Garnett et al., 2016). In 2014 to 2015, the
Australians living in the remote areas such as suburban areas where individuals lack proper
knowledge to maintain the healthy life style were more likely to be obese compared to the
individuals who lived in metropolitan counterparts (Garnett et al., 2016). The lowest prevalence
was observed in the New South Wales and Victoria.

OBESITY IN AUSTRALIA2
Contributing factors of the obesity:
Obesity is a complex health condition, which is influenced by biological, social, cultural
and economic factors. The contributing factors can be explained by two crucial models such as
the biomedical model and socio-economical model (Nichols et al., 2016). According to
biomedical model, there are certain biological factors that directly influence the prevalence of
obesity (Wade & Halligan, 2017). Genetics acts as a contributing factor for obesity. A
considerate number of people have other medical issues and are administrated with certain
medicines containing steroids that give rise to obesity. On the other hand, the socio-economical
model is a theory-based framework, which determines the social and economic factors that
contribute to the occurrence of obesity. According to this model, social factors such as lifestyle,
work, stress and hypertension due to work stress can give rise to obesity (Barker et al., 2015).
Poor dietary habits and intake of sugary diet and high-calorie diet gives rise to obesity in
individuals (Barker et al., 2015).
Countermeasures of obesity:
Poor diet and high body mass index are major risk factors contributing to the significant
obesity prevalence in Australia (Barker et al., 2015). The important initiatives involve a
commitment of New South Wales government to reduce obesity in children by monitoring rates
of obesity and including healthy canteen strategy. Moreover, towards zero growth –healthy
weight action plan 2013 was designed for setting priorities and goals to improve the obesity
status (Roberts et al., 2018). The prime policy that has been designed for reducing obesity is
healthy eating and active living strategy. The other policy interventions that have been
undertaken by the Australian government, include the adoption of whole government obesity