Obesity Prevention in Children and Youths in a Community Setting

OBESITY PREVENTION IN CHILDREN AND YOUTHS IN A COMMUNITY SETTING
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OBESITY PREVENTION IN CHILDREN AND YOUTHS IN A COMMUNITY SETTING
Introduction
Childhood obesity is one of the most severe health issues in the contemporary world.
According to experts, the increase in the prevalence of obesity among children and youths may
be attributed to various factors. Some of these causes include unhealthy eating habits, lack of
physical activity, genetic factors or a combination of these factors. However, in rare cases,
obesity may be caused by a hormonal problem. Childhood obesity is a global health issue,
increasingly becoming prevalent in both developed and developing countries. Additionally,
available evidence suggests that the prevalence of childhood obesity in developed countries
increased by a magnitude of two to three times between the 1980s and 1990s (Flynn, McNeil,
Maloff, Mutasingwa, Wu, Ford & Tough, 2006). According to the World Health Organization,
Childhood obesity is most prevalent in the urban centres of middle-income countries. Similarly,
the prevalence of childhood obesity has increased at an alarming rate in the recent past. Based on
2016 statistics, about 41 million children were overweight. Nearly half of the global populations
of obese children live in Africa and Asia (World Health Organization, 2019). The focus of this
paper will be on the prevention of obesity among children and Youths.
In Australia, it estimated that one in every four children is either overweight or obese.
Additionally, the severity of Obesity is intensified by the fact that once a person becomes obese,
it is quite hard to liberate them from the condition. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics
shows that 24.9% of children aged 5 to 17 years were obese or overweight (Australian Bureau of
Statistics, 2019). The medical costs attributed to the cases of obesity and overweight in Australia
was estimated at $43 Million in 2015 (Black, Hughes & Jones, 2018).
Obesity prevention interventions

The persistent increase in the cases of obesity among youths and children demonstrate
that there is a need for effective interventions among the affected populations. Traditionally,
many strategies focused on the promotion of healthy food choices and regular activities
individuals have been used to deal with cases of obesity. The continuous increase in cases of
obesity among children and youths may, therefore, be as a result of the failure of the adopted
intervention, failure on the part of an individual or both. However, available evidence suggests
that the majority of the obese population have been actively trying to control their weight. This
strategy seeks to manage obesity by promoting physical activity and facilitating physical activity
trough a collaborative approach. It aims to understand the environmental factors in which people
engage in physical activity and make food choices to actively deal with Obesity among children
and Youths. This approach is based on the fact that understanding the root cause of the problem
would make it easier to solve it. It is widely accepted that the use of effective strategies may aid
in the management of obesity, on the same note a multi-strategic approach involving all
community levels including individuals and the wider population is required to effectively
address the obesity epidemic (Flynn, McNeil, Maloff, Mutasingwa, Wu, Ford & Tough, 2006).
The suitability of the intervention is also based on the fact that it focuses on individuals,
community and environmental causes of obesity among children and youths and tries to address
them as a whole. For example, by focusing on environmental limitations of healthy lifestyles, the
intervention seeks to create awareness about other factors that contribute to the prevalence of
obesity. Through its focus on agriculture, taxation and urban planning, the strategy aims to
address the root causes of obesity among children.
The integrated obesity preventions strategy is, therefore, best suited to deal with issues of
obesity. The adoption of an integrated approach is necessitated mainly by the failure of single

interventions to curb the prevalence of obesity among children and youths. The use of an
integrated strategy to deal with obesity would necessitate the incorporation of multiple
stakeholders and a wide range of interventions (World Health Organization, 2019 b).
Additionally, this strategy would require sustained interventions at various levels including
school and community levels to facilitate behavioural change and at. Additionally, the approach
would also focus on sector changes in urban planning, transportation, education, food
manufacturing and agriculture. The adoption of all these interventions as a single obesity
prevention strategy would be quite useful as opposed to the use of each on its own (World Health
Organization, 2019). An integrated obesity prevention strategy targets nongovernmental
organisations, private organisations, the government and communities. Additionally, they also
need to be integrated with issues such as undernutrition and food security especially in middle
and low-income countries (World Health Organization, 2019 b). However, for an integrated
strategy to become effective, all stakeholders need to be involved across the development,
implementation and evaluation (Flynn et al., 2006).
In an integrated obesity prevention strategy, the government would play a leading role in
the provision of leadership and funding required for successful implementation. Additionally, the
government would be responsible for creating environments that support physical activity and
healthy diets through policy changes in the areas of agriculture, transport, urban planning, fiscal
policy, food labelling and marketing. The approach involves policy changes targeted at making it
mandatory for children and adults to undertake the rigorous activity of at least one hour every
day. This strategy would also require integration of behaviour modification education at the
school and community levels. An integrated approach would, therefore, lead to the effective
management of obesity by involving key stakeholders and streamlining various efforts into a