Childhood Obesity: National Health Priorities and Social Determinants

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of childhood obesity, a critical public health issue. It begins by defining childhood obesity and highlighting its significance, including its impact on individuals and the broader community, as well as the immediate and long-term health risks associated with the condition. The essay then explores the relationship between childhood obesity and the Australian National Health Priorities, specifically cardiovascular health. Furthermore, it examines the social determinants of health that contribute to childhood obesity, such as resource availability, access to healthcare, and the influence of mass media and technology. The essay also discusses the upstreaming approach to nursing care, with a focus on patient education as a key strategy for addressing childhood obesity. The conclusion reiterates the severity of the issue and the importance of interventions, emphasizing the need for patient education to combat this growing health concern. The assignment adheres to the provided brief, which includes an essay format and a health promotion brochure design.

Running head: CHILDHOOD OBESITY 1
Childhood obesity
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Childhood obesity
Introduction
The World health Organization defines childhood obesity as the condition in which children
store more than the recommended fats in their bodies. Childhood obesity contributes to mortality
among children and there is the need for immediate action. Within the framework of this
assignment, there will be an analysis of childhood obesity and how it relates with different
factors such as determinants of health and the National Australia Health Priorities.
Discussion
Significance of childhood obesity
Childhood obesity is regarded as one of the most serious public health issue in the 21st century.
The condition is mostly affecting low and middle income countries. As of 2016, the World
Health Organization reported 41million cases of obesity among children below 5 years. The
CDC states that as of 2014, 13.7 million children and adolescents were suffering from the
condition. This translates to 18.5% (Taveras et al 2017). Childhood obesity has severe
consequences that can be classified either as immediate health risks or future health risks.
According to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC). The immediate health risks include high
blood pressure as well as high cholesterol. Recent studies indicate that obesity leads to the above
complications. The two complications together leads to cardiovascular diseases which is one of
the most causes of mortality among children with the World Health Organization reporting 25%
of deaths due to CVD among children in 2017 (Woo Baidal et al 2017). Childhood obesity also
leads to increased risk of impaired glucose tolerance and insulin resistance. This eventually leads
to type 2 diabetes mellitus. Scientists also link childhood obesity to other conditions such as

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psychological problems like anxiety and depression. Furthermore, the physical appearance of
obese children creates low self-esteem and social problems like bullying and stigma which
contributes to suicide among the affected children as reported by the World Health Organization
in 2015.
Childhood obesity is associated with health risks in the future. These are complications that
could occur in the future if the risk factors for childhood obesity are not addressed effectively.
Recent studies link childhood obesity to obesity in adulthood. This further subjects the children
to other health conditions like type 2 diabetes and cancer in the future. Childhood obesity is a
serious condition that needs serious interventions among different stakeholder to avert the
consequences associated with the condition.
Relationship between childhood obesity and one of the Australia National Health priority
The Australia National Health Priorities were stipulated back in 1996. The objective was to
indicate the areas that were in need of urgent interventions to improve the health status among
the Australian citizens (Simmonds, Llewellyn, Owen, & Woolacott 2015). Cardiovascular health
is one of the Australia National Health Priorities. The aim of this priority was to improve
cardiovascular health through lowering the rate of cardiovascular diseases and their impacts on
the overall population. This priority directly relates to childhood obesity in Australia. According
to research, obesity is associated with high fats or cholesterol that lodge in blood vessels making
them narrow and this subsequently creates pressure in the heart leading to cardiovascular
complications. Therefore, the basis of addressing cardiovascular problems lies in handling
obesity among children.

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Relationship between childhood obesity and the social determinants of health
The world health Organization defines social determinants of health as conditions in the
environment that people are born, live learn, worship, work and play and how they affect a wide
range of health (Gurnani, Birken, & Hamilton 2015). There are different social determinants of
health for the case of childhood obesity. However, only three will be illustrated in this section.
Availability of resources to meet the daily life is the first social determinant of health that affects
childhood obesity. According to recent studies, nutrition plays an important factor in the
development of obesity (Kumar & Kelly 2017). The studies link unhealthy diets to obesity. Such
diet include junk food with too much fats. It’s the lack of resources that contributes to
consumption of unhealthy foods that eventually lead to obesity. In order to address childhood
obesity therefore, there is the need to make resources available that will enable children to feed
on healthy diets.
Access to healthcare services is the second social determinant of health that directly relates with
childhood obesity. Effective control of any health condition lies in the ability to access health
care ("Correction to: Childhood Obesity 2016;12(1):1–11," 2016). However, in one of the meta-
analysis conducted recently, it was established that children who do not readily access healthcare
services have higher prevalence of obesity than those that do (Cheung, Cunningham, Narayan, &
Kramer 2016). This therefore implies that the Australian government should struggle to ensure
all children have easy access to healthcare services. Finally, access to mass media and emerging
technologies like internet is another determinant. With the rapid technological advancement
globally, children spend most of their time watching videos or playing games online at the
expense of physical activities (Carbone, Lavie, & Arena 2017). Studies link physical inactivity to

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obesity. In order to effectively address the problem of childhood obesity, there is the need to
correct or handle the social determinants of health that relate with the condition.
Relationship between childhood obesity and upstreaming approach to nursing care.
The upstreaming approach to nursing care that directly relates to childhood obesity is patient
education. A comparison of different meta-analysis indicate that patient education is the most
effective way of handling childhood obesity (Bhadoria et al 2015). This upstream approach
basically involves identifying the group at risk then educate them on how they can modify their
lifestyle like engaging in physical activities and eating healthy food.
Conclusion
In conclusion, childhood obesity is a serious condition affecting more than 41 million children
globally. Failure to avert the condition leads to complications such as cardiovascular diseases
and type 2 diabetes. The Australian government took an initiative to improve childhood obesity
through the National Health Priorities back in 1996 with the aim of reducing cardiovascular
diseases. This condition directly relates to different social determinants of health such as
availability of resources and access to healthcare. It is imperative to utilize upstreaming nursing
approach like patient education to eradicate childhood obesity.

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References
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