Child Obesity in East London: Causes, Policies, and Interventions

This report delves into the critical issue of child obesity in East London, highlighting the alarming rise in prevalence as revealed by recent NHS research. It explores the correlation between deprivation and obesity, emphasizing the disproportionate impact on children from low-income families. The report examines national and international public health policies, including strategies like supporting breastfeeding and restricting unhealthy food advertisements, while also acknowledging the role of environmental factors. It investigates interventions, categorizing them into weight management programs, prevention measures, and broader strategies. The report emphasizes the importance of education and health promotion, advocating for parental guidance, healthier food choices, and social marketing campaigns to combat the issue. It concludes by underscoring the need for comprehensive interventions and education programs to effectively address and manage child obesity, ensuring a healthier future for children in East London.

Child Obesity in East London
Introduction
New research that has been done In London reveals a new twist in the obesity prevalence
among children in East London. The statistics derived from research done by NHS reveals a
sharp rise in the number of obese children in the country. This trend has threated the health
sector and the authorities (Udo and Grilo, 2016). The government through the National Child
Measurement Program has also reported that almost a quarter of school children at school
reception level are overweight or obese and those in stage two, more than one out of three are
overweight. The reports have also reported the correlation between deprivation and obesity.
For instance, the most affected children are those that come from poor families or those that
are deprived of a proper diet.
In the last few decades, an increase in childhood obesity has been noticed in East London. In
2016, obesity in children was discovered to be increasing in both boys and girls. The younger
ages have recorded this increasing prevalence in obesity specifically in East London. The
assumption by two pediatricians from East London is that almost 41- million children below
the age of five years in the world are overweight (Ulijaszek et al., 2016). This is also a report
given by the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2016, there were 20000 girls and 12000
boys with obesity in East London, while the global number of moderately or severely
underweight girls and boys was 75 million and 117 million respectively. Focussing on the
case of East London where some research on obesity has been carried out, the trend is
surprisingly taking a dangerous direction, where tactical intervention must now be considered
to reduce the prevalence. It has, therefore, prompted the response of the British government

which has declared that the problem needs urgent intervention. It is also noted that the
problem is common in children who are deprived of proper diet.
Experts recommend that the first intervention to fight the problem is to reduce the
consumption of soft drinks and sugar. However, it is also necessary to consider the
environment where children grow (Wang, Mamudu and Wu, 2012). This is because
environmental factors are contributors to the problem of overweight and obesity. According
to dietetics, a healthy diet plays a great role in reducing obesity in children. Therefore, the
problem can be put under control if a healthy diet is observed.
National and International public health policies and drivers on obesity
Fighting obesity has been a policy priority in East London for quite a long time. The
government formed two formal strategies to deal with the problem. These strategies were
developed between 2008 and 2011 and have drawn closer many initiatives that are intended
to fight obesity (Sonntag, Ali and De Bock, 2015). For now, various strategies and policies
have been adopted to ensure that obesity prevalence in children is controlled. Some of these
policies include; supporting breastfeeding mothers and ensuring proper and healthy weaning
process, ensuring children in schools receive nutritional foods, restricting advertisement of
foods with high-fat content, sugar, and salt content, and programs to enhance participation in
sports, healthy travel and tour plans, and services intended to reduce the wait.
It has been noted from various health researches and the World Health Organization that the
rate at which obesity is affecting children in East London continues to grow. Therefore,
proper strategies are to be put in place to deal with the problem (Townsend, Rutter and
Foster, 2012). A cross-government strategy was developed in 2011 to include both national
and local governments to fight the problem. Policies could be developed at the national level,

but the local government must play an important role in the development of such policies and
to ensure the people on the ground implement them. Before the implementation of any policy
on obesity, the policymakers have ensured that there is policy guidance that sets goals or
objectives and identification of effective interventions. The local government has also come
up with guidelines on weight management strategies, although, many policies on the same are
stated in the World Health Organization set of guidelines that are available at the local and
national government offices.
The intervention of stakeholders to child obesity in East London
Researchers have indicated that childhood obesity predicts that there is a likelihood of the
occurrence of obesity in adulthood (Tan et al., 2018). Therefore, tackling obesity requires
early intervention. It is noted that once a child has developed obesity, it becomes difficult for
the child to do exercise because lack of confidence to do so. This even worsens the situation
because it would be difficult to lose weight because they lack exercise. Interventions to
address obesity can be classified into three major categories, firstly, the weight management
programs that are intended on the individuals who are already overweight or obese to help
reduce their weight (SE and JL, 2018). Secondly, the interventions that are focused on
prevention measures such as avoiding fatty foods and reducing sugar in drinks and lastly
wider prevention strategy intended to reach a large group of people. This last category
focuses on environmental factors that lead to obesity and overweight in children.
This analysis mainly focuses on two types of intervention, for instance, obesity prevention
programs which should consider varieties of complex factors that give rise to obesity. The
main focuses of obesity prevention include public education, advice on nutrition, and change

of behavior programs, physical activities, and parental development guidance. Although a
number of these intervention strategies have been developed in the UK, few of them have
been adopted and implemented both locally and internationally (Rubin, 2011). This is
because a number of these interventions require serious evaluation in terms of financial costs.
Literature of evaluation of the effectiveness of these interventions has shown that many of
them have failed because of financial hindrances. However, intervention programs like public
health education, nutritional advice, and parental development programs have contributed to
the reduction of the number of children being affected by obesity in East London.
Health education plays an important role in informing the public on the type of foods that
should be given to children to prevent obesity and overweight. It is one of the best
intervention strategies because it is said that ‘prevention is better than cure’. Parents are
advised on the types of food to give their children, informed on the importance of doing
physical exercise (Lawrence, 2010). One of the policies is promoting healthier food choices.
You may realize that a number of children consume food with high-fat content this may
begin at a younger age that makes them have an increase in high-fat content in their body
(Katz, 2014). The policy is trying to inform the people to reduce the intake of food with high
carbohydrate and fat content. It also tries to reduce too much protein in the body as they
regulate and promote the importance of eating vegetables.
Personal advice and support is also another important strategy that the government of UK has
introduced to inform the public on the importance of preventing obesity in children and ways
of improving physical fitness as one of the measures to manage the problem. That has been
found to be effective (El-Gilany and El-Masry, 2011). Normally those who suffer from
obesity only lack advice. By having advice and providing guidance to the food that is being
consumed by an individual this can help in reducing the risk of people having obesity both in

adult and child. Children can be trained right from birth on the food they are likely to
consume. By having a clear guideline and procedure, even diseases such as diabetes and
hypertension in young children. Through advice, the parent also knows the best meals to give
their children while providing a restriction to some of the other foods that increase the
chances of having obesity.
Education can also help one change the behavior of people concerning the type of food they
should take to manage or to prevent obesity. It will also make a parent to know the type of
food a child should not consume (Lobstein & Frelut, 2018). Social marketing and campaign
are other policies that can really help and have been tested and proved to be working in
developed countries. This helps all the ethnic group both the minority group and the majority.
However, other reports have indicated that most children who suffer from obesity in East
London come from families that are well-off and may not suffer from malnutrition. Through
the educational campaigns, both the learned and the illiterate will get information about the
management and prevention of obesity and overweight (YS and MG, 2015). This will also
help in the elimination of the aspect of discrimination and will encourage inclusivity when it
comes to fighting obesity among the children of East London.
Reasons why education is the most important strategy to deal with obesity
Considering the fact that education is one of the most effective strategies, proper
interventions should accompany educational programs in order to meet the targets. Since
some learning institutions in the UK are dominated by young children, it would be easier to
spread the message among them (Jwa, Fujiwara and Kondo, 2014). Using the teachers to act
as agents of delivery of information would even bring more effectiveness in the way things
are handled. Additionally, schools provide a better environment for physical activities.

School children are subjected to daily physical exercises that improve their physical and
mental fitness. In the previous section of this paper, it is highlighted that physical fitness is
one way of managing obesity and overweight.
Through educational programs, even the minorities will be considered in awareness campaign
It will also help the parents who are the key component to understand their responsibilities
and to regulate the type food to be given to their children (Lee, Lee and Park, 2015). In
schools, children have lessons that teach them how to cook healthy food as well as actively
involved in sports. It is through education that the schools may provide information to the
individuals even in the remote areas about the importance of good health. Education
discusses the importance of different types of meals and how to balance the diet.
Conclusion
Everybody wants to have a good lifestyle and also have good health; therefore, it is important
to know the preventive measures and management methods of obesity and overweight.
However, children in East London have a good awareness of healthy foods they are supposed
to take although they do not take it seriously as something that affects their life. Parents can
have a significant role in deciding which kind of food their children are to consume but for
some reasons may not consider providing a balanced diet to their children.

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