Role of Nurses in Preventing Obesity in Pakenham Community

Running Head: Primary Health Care
Primary Health Care
Essay
System04104
9/25/2018

Primary Health Care
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Introduction
A large number of people are suffering from obesity in all over the world. Obesity is a
complex problem that involves an excessive amount of body fat in people/patients. Obesity
causes many health related problems in the body such as heart disease, Asthma, diabetes,
high blood pressure etc. It is a major health concern for the whole world and we can say that
Pakenham is the capital of obesity in Australia. This report is based on the Pakenham
community where large numbers of people are fighting with obesity. This work explains the
role of nurses and their contribution to prevent obesity in Pakenham community. To prevent
such diseases and promote healthcare awareness among people, “The Ottawa charter” was
created by the World Health Organisation (W.H.O) in November 1986, in Ottawa, Canada. It
was the first international conference on ‘Health Promotion’. The main objective behind this
charter was “health for all.” The charter mainly focuses on the importance of the socio-
environmental approach to achieve better health for people. This report examines the role of
nurses that how they can help the people in Pakenham to fight with obesity under the Ottawa
charter's five strategic actions. This report includes how nurses can promote awareness about
obesity and playing a key role in prevention against such type of diseases.
Obesity in Pakenham Community
Pakenham is a big populous community in Melbourne. In Pakenham, excessive
weight and fat-related health problem are the major health concerns for those people who are
not suffering from any other health problems. The number of females reporting being obese
is among the highest in the community. Obesity in children is also a major concern in the
Pakenham community. Although obesity is a challenging problem in this community along
with mental illness but people are still facing problems and ignoring the importance of proper
dieting and exercise. Weight management is a complicated process and it is more challenging
for the people (Havrankova, 2012). Obesity is a primary risk factor for other diseases such as
Type 2 diabetes (Atkinson, 2014). It can be said that obesity is not a small problem that is
limited to a particular community rather it is a serious problem for each community in all
over the world.
Here, we will discuss the role of nurses in removing obesity from Pakenham and how
the five actions plan of Ottawa charter can help nurses in removing obesity. It will be also

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discussed in this essay that how nurses can spread awareness among people about Obesity in
the community.
Five Strategies of the Ottawa Charter Plan to control Obesity
The Ottawa charter plan includes five strategic plans that can be used by nurses to reduce
health-related problems such as mental illness, obesity, diabetes etc. in all over the world.
The Ottawa health promotion program focuses on health problem as well as it focuses on
other disorders like obesity. Nurses can use this five-action strategic plan to fight with obesity
in Pakenham and aware people how they can take proper exercise, medical care, and proper
diet to fight against obesity. These steps and strategies can be described in the following sub-
heads:
1. Build a Healthy Public policy
The main objective of the Ottawa charter is to develop a policy that helps in removing
various health concerns from the global community (World Health Organisation, 2018). The
main objective behind this policy is to find out the reasons that cause of the various diseases
such as mental stress, obesity, alcoholism in young people etc. and how these problems can
be resolved.
Creating and implementing an effective health policy can help the community to fight
with obesity. A good government health policy can help in reducing obesity in people by
implementing various weight-loss management programs. The government can organise
various weight-loss management programs in schools, colleges, and universities for those
students and youths who are suffering from obesity (Steele, Wu, Jensen, Pankey, Davis, &
Aylward, 2011). The government can make it compulsory for every school and colleges to
schedule various exercise and physical fitness programs as a prevention program against
obesity. Apart from this, the various healthcare centres and weight management centres can
also assist people by providing proper suggestions about obesity (Bonde, Bentsen, &
Hindhede, 2014). These healthcare centres aware people how they can lose their weight with
proper exercise and proper dieting. Nurses can play an important role in the formulation of
policies regarding the prevention of obesity and weight-loss management. Nurses can also act
as a mediator between parents and teachers to examine the health status of young people.
Nurses can promote the effective health policy in the Pakenham by providing suggestions and