Addressing Childhood Obesity: A Petition for the United States

This project presents a comprehensive petition aimed at addressing the rising prevalence of childhood obesity in the United States. The student's work highlights the severity of the issue, detailing the health risks associated with obesity, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and psychological issues. The petition proposes a multi-faceted approach, including advocating for government funding to support hiring dieticians, physiotherapists, and psychotherapists in schools. It also calls for changes in school curricula to promote healthy eating habits and increased physical activity, and for policies to address bullying of obese children. The project outlines the goals of the petition, the proposed guidelines, action plans, and anticipated outcomes, emphasizing the need for support from healthcare professionals, parents, and school authorities to achieve its objectives. This project is a valuable resource for students studying public health and related fields, and offers a clear understanding of the steps needed to combat childhood obesity. Find more resources on Desklib.

Running head: PREVALENCE OF OBESITY IN CHILDREN
PREVALENCE OF OBESITY IN CHILDREN: PETITION
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Background......................................................................................................................................2
Aim of the petition...........................................................................................................................4
The goal of petition..........................................................................................................................4
Proposal of the petition guidelines..................................................................................................4
Action..............................................................................................................................................6
Need for support..............................................................................................................................7
Promotion of the petition.................................................................................................................7
Anticipated outcome of the petition................................................................................................7
Support to implement petition.........................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Reference.......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Obesity in children is the leading lethal medical condition that is affecting the whole
economy of the country. The children who are facing the issue of obesity are above their healthy
weight as per the age and height. It is also causing severe health issue to the children who are
associated with diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The main aim of the paper to
file a petition for lowering the incidence of obesity and improving the health status of growing
population of United States. The petition is filed by the different school authority members of
different city in United States to the head governmental body. The paper has highlighted the
background information of obesity and primary purpose and objective of the petition. It has also
deal with the guideline of petition by explaining the anticipated outcome of it. The paper has
explained about the various way of promoting the petition and methods to gather the signature.
Background
Childhood obesity is one of the severe issues in the United States, causing poor health of
the growing generation. Children who have BMI of same or more than the 95th percentile are
considered as obese. (Ogden et al., 2015). The prevalence of obesity among the school going
children is high and is going on increasing. It is the known fact that obesity is caused by
unevenness in intake of calorie and its utilization. In children, the reason for obesity may vary
from genetic, environmental and behaviour reason (Hales et al., 2017). It is evident from the
research that obesity is the house of many chronic diseases such as diabetes or cardiovascular
illness (Flegal et al., 2016). In children, effect of obesity is visualised from two , which include
being short term or long term effects. In short term effect, the physical and psychological

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problems are associated with the stroke, type 2 diabetes, discrimination, low self-esteem and
even suicide (Ogden et al., 2016).
Data from the 2015- 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) highlights that
nearly 1in five school-age children are facing the issue of obesity in United States (Zilanawala et
al., 2015). The pervasiveness of obesity was 18.5%, which has affected 13.7 million of children
and adults. 13.9 % of Children of 2 to 5 years of age, 18.4% of children of 6 to 11 years old and
20.6% of 12 to 19 years adults are undergoing the problem of obesity (Lobstein et al., 2015).
Though decrease in obesity is observed among the younger children in the year 2011- 2012, in
the past three decades, increase in proportion of obesity has been found in children of all ages
(Ward et al., 2017).
Obesity in the United States is documented by age, gender, race and ethnicity. Hence,
understanding the occurrence of obesity in childhood, provide way to improve the health status
at all ages. Youth Risk Behaviour Surveillance System showed that approx. 14.8% high school
going children in the US are obese, and more than 15.6% of the high schooler comes under the
category of overweight () Looking into the cause of obesity, it can be said that it is mostly
associated with the genetic factors, lack of physical activity and exercise, unhealthy eating habits
or collaboration of all such elements. It is known that in children who are going to school are
influenced by the unhealthy eating habits such as salty and junk foods, frozen foods, sugary
drinks or canned foods and is unable to maintain their diet plan (Johnson & Johnson, 2015). In
research, it is seen that school provide high amount of unhealthy fast food to their students
(Smith & Smith, 2016). They are also ignorant towards the physical curriculum activity and
engage themselves in watching television, playing video games and going for parties or spending
time with friends. Hence, in children, large ignorance regarding health is observed. Impact of

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obesity is linked with high blood pressure, impaired glucose tolerance, resistance to insulin,
breathing issue such as asthma and sleep apnoea (Mandviwala, Khalid & Deswal, 2016). They
are unable to their daily living activity and always requires someones help. They may also incur
joint problems and musculoskeletal discomfort. The adverse impact of obesity is also related to
psychological issues such as anxiety, low self-reported quality of life and social issues such as
bullying and stigma. As for future risk, obesity in children has a high probability of growing as
an obese adult, which may lead to heart disease or even cancer (Upadhyay et al., 2018). Hence,
there is the need to develop strategies to control obesity in children of United States.
Aim of the petition
The primary aim of the petition is lower the prevalence of obesity among the school
going children.
Goal of petition
The main objectives of the filing a petition by the school body to the government of
United States are as follows:
 To improve the health status of growing generation.
 To lower the prevalence of lethal disease among children.
 To increase the working capacity of the children.
 To lower the incidence of depression and suicide among children.
 To improve the future economy of the country.

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Proposal for the petition guidelines
The petition has been filed by the 50 schools of United States from different location of
United States such as America, Texas, California, Florida, Virginia, Hawaii and Alaska. The
petition is filed to the government of Unites States. The request is being set by the school
authority considering the objective of lowering the prevalence of obesity in school going
children.
 To improve the health status of children, the petition is being filed to gain sufficient
funding from the government and seek permission to make relevant changes in the
school curriculum framework and structure.
 There is a need for funding to hire dietician, physiotherapist and psychotherapist as
they are needed in school to improve the health status of children. A dietician should be
involved in the setting balanced diet in the school and exclude all the junk and high
sugary food form the canteen of school (Burrows et al., 2017). They will be responsible
for looking after the eating habits of the children.
 Permission is needed to hire counsellor that will be involved in giving information to the
parent about the ways to manage obesity and health of the children. The counselling
session will be set for once in every three months of period. The course will involve
educating parents regarding the way by which they can improve and control the health of
the people. (Gruver et al., 2016). They will be instructed regarding the way to maintain
balanced diet for their children. They will also be given some precautions to take to
improve the health of the children.
 In school, there is the need for implementation of various game activity based on gender.
A game coordinator is required who can help them to enhance their game activity

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(Bottino et al., 2018). Boy and girl will have their respective game activity by which each
one will have equal chance of participation in the game.
 The requirement of physical trainer is essential in every school. In every school, one
hour should be involved in the physical activity where they will be given training and
make them do physical activity (Doolittle et al., 2016). It will play vital role in solving
the issue of obesity as most of the children cannot manage time to maintain their health.
 The government should provide extra space in every school which require permission to
expand the infrastructure of the school. The extra space is needed for the implementation
of indoor and outdoor game, and it should be provided to each school in United States
(Foster et al., 2018).
 The subject of Physical Health Education should be made compulsory in every school,
where every student will gain knowledge and education about the benefit of physical
activity and various type of sports. The subject can also give them an insight towards
their career related to sports. Additionally, a rule has to be made for every school
regarding abolishment of bullying and ragging of obesity children (Hills, Dengel &
Lubans, 2015).
 A psychotherapist is required in every school who will give interactive session once in
three months to school children and staffs (Pretorius, Batiste-Harel & Martin, 2018).
From the above mentioned petition, there is the requirement adequate funding to hire
them, to develop infrastructure and furthermore needs permission to amend the framework of
school, to include a compulsory subject of physical health and education in every school and to
make policy to avoid bullying of children.

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The petition will need approval from every school authorising body, from state
government and a health care professional before being circulating to the head government of the
United States (Edstrom et al., 2016).
Action
To get stated with the petition, a call to the local government and health ministry will be
made to implement the petition and take the appropriate steps as per the guideline within next
one year (Lebbie et al., 2016).
Need for support
To get approval for the petition, there is a need for extra effort to make the process faster.
Hence to further support the cause, an appointment will be made to meet the state health minister
and finance minister and petition will be explained thoroughly and make them understand the
urgency of the situation (Gherezgihier et al., 2017).
Promotion of the petition
The primary purpose of the petition is to solicit signature from different people to get an
ample amount of support. Hence, to promote the petition following step can be followed (Ahn,
2015).
 Make an advertisement by creating poster, pamphlet and hand-out and social media.
 Circulate the objective and need for the petition by the mean of mass and media
 Talk to parents and general population of the city and inform them about the petition.
 Give the information in the news article.
 Seek signature by the mean of promoting the petition.

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 Create an event in the school and the community of different states in the US.
 Schedule a local rally which will highlight the need and importance of the petition.
 Creating blog and online forum where one can involve in group discussion about the
petition and can answer the questions of the potential signer.
Anticipated outcome of the petition
Through the implementation of the petition, the prevalence of obesity-linked disease in
the children will be low. As it is seen, obese children are at high risk of diabetes, cardiovascular
complication and another health issue, by application of all the measures the incidence of such
health problem will be prevented (Baidal et al., 2016). Good health in children will make them
mentally and physically healthy. The rate of getting absent in school will be lowered. In good
health, they would be able to focus more on study, and it can progress their academic
performance of the children. Hence, it can lead to improving their career and future outcome. It
will help in creating and focusing more on professional life. Furthermore, good health of children
will lower the medical cost and lessen the burden in society.
Support to implement a petition
The petition will be submitted to head the government, and for petition to be considered,
government of United States needs more than 10,000 signatures. The signature will be required
from:
 The respective health care professional
 Parents and general peoples
 School authority body

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Conclusion
Lastly, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that the incidence of obesity in
children is the out breaking in the United States. There is high number of obesity observed in
young age people. Many factors are connected with the cause of obesity where genetic factor is
such a factor which need prior precaution. People and place can play a significant role to help
children maintain their healthy weight. The changes in the environment of the children like
home, school, and community can be beneficial for young people to get nutritious food and make
them involved in physical activity. Further, there is the need to take appropriate step by the
school authority body as children spend a maximum of their time in school. School can adopt
policies and practices that can help the young children to get an idea about healthy eating can
involve themselves in eating fruits, vegetables and doing daily physical activity. Thus, action
taken by the school and policies can be cost-effective and even cost-saving.

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Reference
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M. (2016). Risk factors for childhood obesity in the first 1,000 days: a systematic
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Bottino, C. J., Puente, G. C., Burrage, A., Tannis, C., Cheng, J. K., Epee-Bounya, A., & Cox, J.
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