Public Health Promotion: Teenagers and Young Adults from Middle Class Indigenous Population Suffering from Obesity

Running head: PUBLIC HEALTH PROMOTION
Public Health Promotion: Teenagers and Young Adults (12 to 25 years) from the
Middle Class Indigenous population from the rural area (Northern Territory) suffering
from obesity due to lack of health awareness
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PUBLIC HEALTH PROMOTION
Introduction
According to the World Health Organization (2011), health is defined as a state of
complex physical, mental and social well-being and can never be defined as absence or
presence of disease. In other words, it can be stated that health is beyond the description of
the disease prevalence or disease occurrence. Health can also be defined s the poor lifestyle
habits that make an individual vulnerable towards developing chronic diseases. The Public
Health Association of Australia (PHAA) (2019) has defined public health under
multidisciplinary set of activities that protects and promote health and well-being while
preventing the disease development. Health promotion deals with assisting people and
communities to improve their health through self-management skills. The following health
promotion project will focus on indigenous young adults or teenagers in between the age
group of 12 to 25 years and are suffering from obesity and residing in the middle class
families in rural areas. The selection of the young adults will be done from the Northern
Territory of Australia as it has a significant portion of Aboriginal population in Australia.
Northern Territory Government (2019) stated that majority of the indigenous population in
the Northern Territory suffers from lack of health literacy and thus they experience high level
of health inequality. Thus the health promotion project plan will promote health through
health education and this will be followed by the implementation of the health promotion
program for improving the overall health and well-being of the target population.
Outline of the Target Group and Health Risk Factors
Obesity percentage
Obesity is a major risk factor of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes
mellitus (T2DM), musculoskeletal complications and cancer. 25% of the adolescents who are
age between 12 to 25 years are obese during 2017 to 2018. This percentage increased by 19%

2PUBLIC HEALTH PROMOTION
by 1995. The obesity among the teenagers or the young adults is responsible for 8.4% of the
disease burden in Australia (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2019). The
rate of obesity is higher in boys in comparison to the girls. The statistics published by AIHW
(2017) reported that during 2014 to 15, adolescents or the young adults residing in the outer
regions or rural areas are likely to be obese (1.5 times more vulnerable) in comparison to the
girls residing in the major cities. During 2014-15, 1/3rd (33%) of boys from the low socio-
economic group are obese in comparison to the 22% of the indigenous boys residing in the
higher socio-economic group and the percentage is 24 for the indigenous girls. The
indigenous boys or girls are likely to be obese during 10 to 14 years of age and they develop
obesity at the age of 15 to 15 years.

3PUBLIC HEALTH PROMOTION
Figure: Obesity percentage among the young adults up to 18 years of age
(Source: AIHW 2017)
Socio-economic determinants and obesity
Thurber et al. (2018) stated that high body mass index (BMI) is the second leading
cause of high disease burden among the Australian teenage and young adult population. The
disease burden is higher among the indigenous population in comparison to the non-
indigenous population residing in the rural areas and who are from the middle class families.
Figure: the distribution of BMI rate among boys and girls of the indigenous population in
Australia
(Source: AIHW, 2017)