Analysis of Health Policy on Obesity and Healthy Eating in Australia

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PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Brief description of the health policy..............................................................................................7
Significance of the health policy.....................................................................................................9
Implementation of the health policy..............................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14
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Introduction
There is continuously increasing the serious health issues due to the unhealthy food as well as
pollution. Several numbers of people are losing their lives and spending a lot of money on the
treatment of such diseases. This report is prepared in order to present a health policy on serious
health issues like obesity. There will be created the health policy which is used to address the
important problems related to health that how these can be prevented or treated by the general
public. There will also be provided a brief discussion on the policy providing the details on the
purpose of such health policy. There will be provided with an explanation on how such a policy
can be useful in addressing such a problem in an appropriate and efficient manner. Further, the
ways to implement such health policy will also be discussed in this report. There can be made the
use of different campaigns as well as educational programs in order to bring this policy in teh
working state.
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Issues
In Australia, it has been identified that most of the people are obese as well as overweight. A
huge part of the adults, as well as children having the age between 2 years to 15, are included in
this part who are suffering from obesity. People who have high weight are afraid of having type
2 diabetes, certain cancers as well as heart disease. It is very difficult for the people to find as
well as keep working with the excessive weight and it can also impact the mental health as well
as the self- esteem (Calancie, et. al., 2015). By the end of the year, there is a requirement of
seeing:
 The downwards trend in the degree of the excess weight in the adults.
 The sustained downward trend in the level of excessive weight in the children.
Actions
Following are the actions that can be made in order to make the changes in the situation:
Helping people to make healthier choices:
It is very important to encourage as well as help the people to be more active at their work and
daily routine life. Further, people should also be motivated to eat as well as drink in a healthier
manner (Mayne, et. al., 2015).
There is a need to:
 Give advice to people on a healthy diet as well as physical activity.
 Improvement in the labelling on the drink and food to help the people to make healthy
choices.
 Encouraging the businesses on the high streets to include the information regarding
calories on their menus in order to help the people to make healthy choices.
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Encouraging responsible businesses
Through the public health policy, the businesses, as well as the organization, can make it
easier for everyone to make healthier choices for them from staff members to the customers.
There are 4 networks such as food, alcohol, health at work as well as the physical activity
which has the collective pledges that the businesses are generally encouraged to sign up to.
Following are some other actions that can be taken:
 Make the reduction in the ingredients which are considered harmful for the people to
eat them in high quantity.
 Encouraging the people to consume the vegetables as well as the fruits in high
amount rather than junk food.
 Keeping all the relevant information regarding the calories on the menus.
 Helping the people in order to consume a low level of calories (Schulte, et. al., 2016).
Meeting the local requirements
There are several local councils who are responsible for working with the other organizations in
order to make an improvement in the health of the people residing in such an area. This also
helps in ensuring the right services are provided to the customers.
There will be given the local councils a budget specifically for the health of the public which can
allow them in order to provide the services to meet the local health needs of the people. It can
also include making their own plans for helping the local residing people who are obese.
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Brief description of the health policy
Title of the health policy: Obesity and healthy eating
Description
The health policy is related to various aspects of health. There are various actions that can be
taken to improve the health conditions of the people in the country. The health policy is
associated with the personal lives of the individuals as well as the responsibilities of the business.
For maintaining the health of the people in the country there are several necessary actions that
need to be taken by the individuals and the businesses. The actions are described below:
The first aspect of this health policy is associated with the personal choices of individuals. The
life of modern people is very hectic and people make various bad choices when it comes to the
food or drinks that they intake. The unhealthy diet and drinking habits can ruin the overall health
of the people. These choices can have a long-term negative impact on the health of the people.
Thus it is important that people make better choices in their daily lives to beat the diseases and
get a healthy life. For attaining a healthier life, it is advised to the people to have a balanced diet
and avoid alcoholic drinks. Only eating healthy is not enough to get a healthy body and mind,
physical activities are equally important so that the food is digested and the fats are reduced as
fats in the body can lead to various diseases which can be life endangering as well (Furukawa, et.
al., 2017).
The second aspect of this health policy is related to the responsibilities of the businesses.
Individuals can take a decision to intake healthy food in their diet, but the food must be of a god
quality. This can be ensured by the responsible business entities. It is thus suggested to the
businesses to produce high quality products without any adulteration in the food items so that
there is no negative effect on the health of the consumers. The businesses must also encourage
consumers to have more green vegetables and intake fewer calories so that their health is
maintained. It is also the obligation of the businesses to mention the ingredients and calorie
content on the packaging of the food products (Cleveland, et. al., 2015).
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The last aspect of this health policy is about the responsibility of the local councils that are
obliged to work with other organizations to take necessary steps so that the health of the people
in the area can be improved. The councils can do their work in an effective manner, a budget will
be allotted to them so that they can carry out their responsibilities in a better way. These
organizations can provide free treatment to the needy people in the area so that the health of poor
people can also be maintained and the overall health of the population of the area can be
improved.
Purpose
The policy is good for the people of the country as there is a contribution of all the major
stakeholders of the society. The individuals are responsible for matain their own health and
health councils and businesses have the responsibility to provide better quality products and
treatment to the people of the country.
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Significance of the health policy
Healthy eating is very important for the people to maintain their health including their body and
mind. As described by the author, healthy eating has various benefits. The first benefit is that
when a person eats healthy, there is a loss if weight which is the main reason for the formulation
of this health policy. Weight loss is the reason for several other diseases that can danger to the
lives of people. When overweight [people losses weight, this can eliminate several other diseases
like heart diseases, poor bone density and some types of cancers. Thus healthy eating is
important to stay healthy.
As per the research of the authors Cleveland, et. al., (2015), obesity can lead to harmful effects
on the body of the people. One of the main reasons for obesity is unhealthy dietary habits of
people. When a person suffers from obesity, there are increased chances of risks of cancer
development in the people. It is thus advised to people to take healthy diet including fruits and
vegetables in the diet. There is a health condition named as the stroke. When people develop
healthy eating habits, diseases like a stroke can also be prevented (Cleveland, et. al., 2015).
Another authors Macdiarmid, et. al., (2016), says that eating healthy food is important for the
people to maintain the level of glucose in the blood. When the levels of sugar in the blood
increase, it can lead to the disease of diabetes. This is also a very bad health condition as it has
various other complications related to the health of the people. Thus it is advised to people to
reduce the intake of fried food and calories so that the sugar level stays in control and the health
of people is maintained (Macdiarmid, et. al., 2016).
As it is known by everyone that the traits of parents are passed on to their children. As per the
authors Oyeflaten, et. al., (2016), the health of people is important to be marinated so that the
next generation is also healthy. The diseases suffered by the parents can be passed on to the
children and this is not good for the health of the children. If this happens, the health of the
overall population of the country will be affected as children will also suffer from diseases. It is
very crucial to include healthy food in the diet so that the health of the next generation can also
be maintained (Oyeflaten, et. al., 2016).
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According to the authors Higgs & Thomas, (2016), exercises and meditation are plays a very
important role in maintaining the health of people. It is not enough to have healthy food or the
people who cannot have much healthier food due to hectic and stressed out life must include
exercises and mediation as a part of their daily lives. It is important for people to do some
physical activities daily so that their body and mind is relaxed. There are various other benefits
of physical activities for people like various types of diseases can also be prevented by doing
mediation and exercises (Higgs & Thomas, 2016).
According to the words of the authors Kang, et. al., (2015), businesses must be socially
responsible towards the society in which it operates. For earning larger profits, the businesses
must not encourage people to have unhealthy food and drinks. It is the responsibility of the
manufacturing companies to take care of the health of their consumers as the health of the
consumer is their first priority. They must manufacture food items with high quality raw
materials so that there is a positive impact of the food items on the health of the people. It is also
the obligation of the businesses to mention the warning of bad effects of the products on the
packaging of the products so that the consumers can know about the health issue that they can
have after the consumption of the product (Kang, et. al., 2015).
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Implementation of the health policy
Only development of a health care policy is not enough to have its benefits, it is equally
important to implement it in an effective manner so that most of the people can take advantage of
the health care policy. There are various ways by which the health care policy can be enforced
and implemented. The ways by which the above developed health care policy can be enforced
and implemented are given beneath:
 Requesting the local and state government to accept and enforce the policy: As it is
obvious that the things and policies that are enforced by the government are mostly followed.
This is an important issue for the people of the country and for that certain measures must be
taken. For the enforcement of the health policy, first, the permission of the local and state
government has to be taken. It is important that the government approves the health policy so
that all the people of the country can have the benefits of the policy. It must be requested by
the government that the health policy must be enforced.
 Educating people: Most of the people in the country are unaware of the health conditions
that they can suffer from if they do not take care of the food items and drinks that they are
taking. For benefitting the people of the country by the health care policy, they must be
educated about the increasing health hazards and the need to take care of their health. This
can be done by educating people by way of social media platforms, organizing workshops
and free counselling sessions for the people of the area (Pettigrew, 2016).
 Public health organizations: The implementation of such a huge health care policy cannot
be done by some people alone. It requires efforts of various people. Thus for implementing
and enforcing the health care policy in the country, it is necessary that help from some non-
government health organizations must be taken. Without their support, the policy is difficult
to be implemented. Public health organizations are helpful in educating the people about the
negative health conditions they can face. Public health organizations also assist in the
treatment of needy people who cannot afford their treatments. These organizations help in
surveying the areas so that further improvements in the policies can be done. The health of
the population can be improved by all these actions.
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 Collaboration with the businesses: The big business houses can also help in the
implementation of the health care policy. The encouragement by the businesses can motivate
people to take care of their health and adopt healthy strategies like diets and physical exercise
to improve their health. This will also assist in promotion of the health care policies in other
areas as well.

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Conclusion
The report concludes that health is the most important in one’s life. It is important to take of the
health to lead a god life. There are various health care policies that are developed and formulated
by the governments so that the health of the people of the county can be improved. One more
such health policy is Obesity and healthy eating. This is the health policy that is to motivate the
people to take healthy food and drinks so that their health is maintained. The health policy also
suggests that businesses must also contribute to promoting the health care of the people.
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