Childhood Obesity: Public Health Determinants and Strategies

This report addresses childhood obesity in the UK, highlighting its prevalence and associated health consequences, including physiological and psychological impacts. It identifies key determinants of health contributing to this issue, such as poor health education among parents, socioeconomic factors like unemployment and low income, and the obesogenic environment influenced by marketing and sedentary lifestyles. The report explores population-wide strategies and initiatives implemented by the WHO and the UK government, including measures related to food marketing, nutrition labeling, sugar reduction programs, and healthy start schemes. It also outlines the roles and responsibilities of healthcare professionals in preventing and managing childhood obesity, including measuring BMI, advocating for healthy environments, and counseling parents. Finally, the report discusses challenges faced by professionals, such as cultural impediments and lack of awareness, and concludes with the importance of addressing these challenges for effective policy implementation.

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Britain is starting to overtake America in the rates of obesity with the latest figure
showing that more children in the nation of England are classes as overweight at the age of 11 in
consideration to that of the United States. The proportion of the children of US aged 9 to 11 who
are found to be obese is 18.5% whereas the figure of the children in their final years of the
primary school in England is at the record of 20% (CDC 2017). As per the reports of the BBC,
Public Health England figures for England and Wales has stated that 60% of the children in the
nation who are in their last year of the primary school are classified as “severely obese” in
comparison to their first year (BBC.com 2018). Childhood obesity is found to be associated with
huge number of physiological consequences which are diabetes as well as atherosclerosis, high
blood pressure, asthma, liver disorders, allergies, metabolic syndromes, sleep apnoea and many
others. Moreover, many psychological symptoms also remain intricately associated with the
childhood obesity. These are depression and anxiety, low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, peer
victimization, bullying and many others (Sahoo et al. 2015). Therefore, it is extremely important
for healthcare professionals to prevent the children from developing childhood obesity in order
to ensure the, better quality lives. Therefore, this assignment will cover identification of the
determinants of health and develop knowledge about the strategies undertaken on national
priorities. It would also explain the different healthcare interventions that professionals can take
in order to prevent the prevalence of childhood obesity in the nation.
Determinants of health are the various aspects of the living conditions which determine
the health and wellbeing of an individual. A number of determinants of health are found to be
intricately associated with childhood obesity. One of them is the poor level of health education
among the parents and relatives as well as poor health literacy. In such situations, parents do not
remain aware of the appropriate healthy and nutritious foods that need to be given and the

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unhealthy calorie dense foods that need to be avoided for the children (Casey et al. 2014). They
also have poor food habits which are learnt by children through observational learning approach.
Therefore, lower health literacy and lack of proper knowledge among the parents acts as one the
social determinants of health that is contributing to childhood obesity among the children of the
nation. Another important social determinant of health is the lack of income and unemployment
rates in the poor socioeconomic status of the people. Such people are seen to buy takeaway and
fast foods which are cheap but are calorie dense (Bartley 2016). They cannot afford the organic
foods which are costly but nutritious and hence, the children are not able to intake as much fibres
required for being healthy and fit. Therefore, the social determinant of health which is
unemployment and lack of income among the socioeconomic people is another social
determinant of health (Smith, Bambra and Hill 2016). Another important determinant of health is
the obesogenic environment. In the present day, social media marketing, advertisements
provided by the fast food industries on chip, burgers as well as sweetened beverages on
television, radio, social media and others keep the children hooked to unhealthy food practices
(Liu et al. 2015). Moreover recent trends of the use of smart phones and indoor comport games
have resulted children to lead sedentary lifestyles. Hence, such obesogenic environment needs to
be modified to reduce the rate of childhood obesity among the children.
A range of population-wide strategies and initiatives have been formulated by the WHO
with the aim of effective management of childhood obesity rates. These policies place due
emphasis on taking necessary measures for the marketing of non-alcoholic beverages and foods
that are meant for children (resolution WHA63.14) (WHO 2012). In addition, nutrition labelling
has also been identified imperative for encouraging healthy diets among the target population, by
providing exhaustive information on the amount of carbohydrates, saturated fats, sugars, total

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fats, energy and proteins present in the packaged food items. According to the childhood obesity
plan enforced by the UK government, HM Treasury will monitor the sugar reduction progress, in
addition to using tax system for promoting healthy food choices (Gov.uk 2018). The government
also aims to enforce legislation that will mandate calorie labelling in England. In addition, efforts
have also been taken to veto price promotion, and execute a 9 pm watershed on unhealthy food
and drink television advertisements.
A program run by the Public Health England (PHE) also aims to take out an estimated
20% sugar from the food products that are commonly consumed by children, by focusing on nine
categories such as, yoghurts, breakfast cereals, biscuits, confectionery, cakes, morning goods, ice
cream, puddings, and sweet spreads (Gov.uk 2018). Efforts have also been taken by the
government to recommit to Healthy Start scheme, by exchanging the vouchers provided to low-
income families for milk and fresh vegetables. A policy has also been formulated by the
Association of UK Dieticians that promotes breastfeeding for infants, in addition to increasing
access to multi-component interventions, imposing restrictions on the advertisement of unhealthy
food products, improving labelling on packaged and take-away foods, and fostering
collaboration with the food industry with the aim of reformulating the calorie and sugar content
in drinks and foods (Bda.uk.com 2018). Further recommendations impose by the Royal Society
for Public Health (2018) also stated that a ban should be imposed on fast food firms on
delivering food to schools. It also promotes the display of sugar in teaspoons that are present in
soft drinks, and specifically focuses on the categorizing of food as PG, 12, 15, based on the sugar
and salt content.
Primary healthcare providers such as, nurse practitioners, physicians, and registered
nurses are entitled with the role of working in community health centre and school based

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settings, with the aim of meeting the goals and objectives of obesity prevention. The healthcare
professionals have the duty of measuring the height and weight of children, in order to assess
their development, growth and body mass index (BMI), following which they can treat obesity.
They are also responsible for advocating healthy community environment (Dietz et al. 2015).
The healthcare professionals are also accountable for encouraging healthy gain in weight during
pregnancy, while promoting breastfeeding-friendly environments. They should also counsel the
parents of the high-risk children on the comorbid conditions associated with childhood obesity,
which in turn would enable them to encourage the children to show adherence to healthy lifestyle
(Kris-Etherton et al. 2014). However, some common challenges that are encountered by the
professionals include cultural impediments that prevents them from inspiring the families to
make healthy food adjustments, and false beliefs that perpetuate childhood obesity. In addition,
the idea of obesity as an “illness” remains contentious, and often lead to an atmosphere of fat-
shaming and bias. In addition, several professionals are also ill-equipped to deliver high-intensity
lifestyle management strategies for weight loss. Furthermore, lack of awareness among families
on normal eating behaviour and child development, and problems in setting food limits also
impede the process of caregiving (Kelishadi and Azizi-Soleiman 2014).
To conclude, childhood obesity is an emerging problem in the UK that is characterized
by the accumulation of excess body fats in children, which creates a negative impact on the
health and overall wellbeing. Low literacy, high food cost, and poor socioeconomic conditions
are the common determinants of this condition. Although several public policies have been
framed by the government to reduce the rates of childhood obesity, there is a need to address the
challenges encountered by the healthcare professionals, for successful implementation of the
policies.

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