MHS8.431 Nutrition: Public Health Intervention for Adult Obesity

This presentation provides a detailed analysis of obesity among the adult population in New Zealand and proposes a nutrition awareness campaign as a public health intervention. It highlights the prevalence of obesity in New Zealand, ranking it as the third fattest nation globally, and emphasizes the urgent need for intervention due to the associated health risks such as diabetes, heart attack, and stroke. The proposed campaign targets individuals, families, and communities, focusing on educating the public about the dangers of unhealthy diets, the importance of balanced nutrition, and the benefits of adopting a healthy eating culture. The presentation outlines the roles of various stakeholders, including the government, Ministry of Health, healthcare professionals, and community health workers, in implementing and evaluating the program. It also addresses potential organizational and individual barriers to the campaign's success and suggests remedial measures to overcome these challenges. The success of the program will be monitored through continuous assessment and a final evaluation to ensure that the outlined goals are achieved. This presentation also includes a success history of the campaign program. The presentation concludes by reiterating the importance of proper implementation and behavior change to mitigate obesity and improve public health in New Zealand.

OBESITY AMONGST THE
ADULT POPULATION IN NZ
Name
Institution

Introduction
 New Zealand is a country that is trying to
strengthen its healthcare system
 Despite making commendable efforts, NZ
still faces numerous challenges in its
healthcare
 Nutrition is one of the public issues of
concern
 Nutrition has causes diseases like obesity
 High prevalence of obesity can be
addressed by adopting and fully-
implementing an appropriate intervention

Health Issues in New
Zealand
 NZ is like any other country that has health
problems (Harris, Tobias, Jeffreys,
Waldegrave, Karlsen & Nazroo, 2006).
 Nutrition still remain a challenge in the
country
 Poor eating culture has engulfed the New
Zealanders
 Poor nutrition has caused diseases like
obesity
 Obesity has become quite prevalent and
must be addressed

Task I: Obesity
 Obesity is having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of
25 and above (Kotsis, Tsioufis, Antza,
Seravalle, Coca, Sierra & Redon, 2018).
 Obesity is a lifestyle disease caused by poor
diet-eating of sugary foods
 Obesity also caused by physical inactivity
 Such lead to accumulation of excess fats in
the body (Callahan, 2013).
 Everyone in NZ is susceptible to obesity
 Obesity is deadly and must be mitigated
(Vartanian & Smyth, 2013).

Prevalence of Adulthood
Obesity in NZ
 NZ is in the verge of adulthood obesity-both
male and female adults at risk of the disease
 The prevalence is so high-NZ is third fattest
nation in the world after USA, and Mexico
 In 2017, 32% of the adult NZ population was
obese (Ministry of Health, 2018).
 Obesity also affects the children
 During the same period, 12% of the children
were obese (Ministry of Health, 2018).

Why Intervention
 Obesity is a nutrition-related disease that needs an
immediate intervention
 It is a lifestyle disease that can be mitigated by
adopting a lifestyle change (Sallis, Owen, & Fisher,
2015).
 The disease must be eradicated because it is can
cause other deadly illnesses like diabetes, heart
attack, cancer, stroke, High Blood Pressure, asthma,
gout, and Gallbladder disease and gallstones (Kotsis,
Tsioufis, Antza, Seravalle, Coca, Sierra & Redon,
2018).
 Obesity is, therefore, deadly because it causes high
mortality rates

Task II: Nutrition Awareness
Campaign Program
 As already hinted, obesity is a lifestyle disease
(Kotsis, Tsioufis, Antza, Seravalle, Coca, Sierra &
Redon, 2018).
 The disease can be disastrous if not addressed
(Malik, Willett & Hu, 2013).
 A campaign program should be rolled-out
 The campaign should be nationwide
 The campaign should target the kids, youth,
adults, and elderly populations
 The campaign should focus on individuals,
families, and communities (Gifford, Cvitanovic,
Boulton & Batten, 2017).

Success History of the
Campaign Program
 Obesity awareness campaign is not new
 It has been successfully done in many countries
 The USA has done the campaign before (Werder,
2007).
 The campaign has been done in Germany too
(Powell & Gard, 2015).
 Obesity campaign has also been rolled-out in
Australia (Grunseit, O’Hara, Chau, Briggs &
Bauman, 2015).
 So, NZ can try it as well, execute is properly and
succeed in its war against adulthood obesity

Obesity Awareness Campaign
Program
 The public should be taught about the
following issues regarding the
management of obesity:
 Dangers of unhealthy diet
 All the foods that cause obesity
 How to eat a balanced diet and adopt a
healthy eating culture (Cook, Purdie-Vaughns,
Meyer & Busch, 2014).
 Benefits of healthy foods and eating culture
 How to start and maintain a healthy eating
culture

Obesity Awareness Campaign
Program
 The campaign program to be done as
follows
 All the public healthcare stakeholders to be
involved
 Mass media to be used for the campaign-
radio, television, video, posters, online media
 Campaign to be directed to entire
population through these mass media
(Brownson, Baker, Deshpande, &
Gillespie, 2017).
 All available forms of media accessible should
be used

Task III: Overview of Steps
 The campaign will involve the
contribution of the following
stakeholders:
 The government of New Zealand
 The Ministry of Health (Cook, Purdie-Vaughns,
Meyer & Busch, 2014).
 Public healthcare professionals
 Dietarians
 Nurses
 Physicians
 Community Health Workers

Roles of Government in the
Program
 The government of NZ , through the
Ministry of Health will:
 Avail the required financial resources
 Provide the personnel to be in charge of the
program
 Identify the areas and populations to be
educated
 Supervise the drafting of the campaign
content
 Supervise the implementation of the program
 Evaluate the program to determine its
progress and overall success (Cook, Purdie-
Vaughns, Meyer & Busch, 2014).