Obesity in New Zealand: Analysis of Health and Government Actions

This report examines the issue of obesity in New Zealand, focusing on the health effects of childhood obesity and the measures the government has implemented to combat the problem. The report begins with an introduction highlighting the prevalence of obesity in the country, followed by re...Read More

Running head: HEALTH IN NEW ZEALAND 1
Health in New Zealand
Obesity
Introduction
Name
Institutional Affiliation(S).
Date
12/April/2019

HEALTH IN NEW ZEALAND 2
Health in New Zealand
Obesity
Introduction
The ministry of health survey taken in 2016/2017 came to a conclusion that about 35% of
individuals aged 15 and above had a body mass index (BMI) exceeding 26 and 30 with an
addition of approximately 1.6 million people being obese with a BMI more than 30. Therefore
obesity is a medical disorder where excess body fat has accumulated to the degree that it hurts
health. In the previous year obesity in New Zealand was a major concern when the rate of adult
obesity elevated from 27 percent in 2006/2007 to 32 percent in 2017/2018 while that of children
escalated from 8 percent to 12 percent in the same period. Essentially, obesity is more
pronounced in a female between the age of 5 and 35. The purpose of this follow up report is to
address how education and income stand linked to obesity and the measures the New Zealand
government has put in place to tackle obesity and determine the actions taken in response to the
previous findings.
Research questions
1. What is the primary health effect on childhood obesity to the future expected life?
Obesity at the affecting the young people has a future complication typically to the
affected individuals. They are problems that can be possible to avoid, and what are they?
2. How can New Zealand government counterweight issues?
The government needs to implement policies that do not favor the pride of being
overweight. However, the government cannot work alone but with the ultimate help of school
teachers, and parents.
3. Are there better healthy eating options available for both children and adults?
The society and personally in personal view should stop by all means of feeding their
children with junk food that are high in sugar and calories. However, can the idea be applied to
other healthy eating options? Obesity strong correlation with socioeconomic status and physical
activity, in addition to nutrition.
4. How can parents encourage their children to engage in physical activities instead
of just playing video games?

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In the 21 century children play a lot of indoor games giving them no time to go outside
and engage in physical activities, hence making it the major contributor towards gaining excess
weight. Therefore parents and the government in conjunction need to find other ways to entertain
their children.
5. What is the best way to stop obesity in New Zealand? (especially the youth)
The youth are believed to be the future leaders of any society, sound cliché but true to the
idea, the youth who are ever energetic and fast should be assisted in helping reduce their
consumption of unhealthy food. There it can be done through proper education on health factors
and speculative positions they could be holding in the future.
Research process
The research problem has its focus on childhood obesity the measures the New Zealand
government has put in place to tackle obesity and determine the actions taken in response to the
previous findings. The New Zealand government should identify specific areas within the
country and the healthy population to formulate the best ways to kill obesity and its related
disadvantages (Bergès & Lézine, 2016). The research process will follow a systematic process of
asking questions, planning the event, gathering information from libraries and other online
sources, analysis, and evaluation of the results.
In carrying out the research process, it turned out using the following research techniques
and tools was realistic and efficient (Bray, 2014). The Qualitative research method whereby,
employing the technique, generally it helps to understand the attitudes, opinions, feelings and
natural behavior of people, nevertheless, much information on obesity came about from the
government website, the world health organization (WHO) insight and the personal questioning
of health official in the ministry of health and public health.
Search terms used
 Childhood obesity – is the condition whereby the excess fat accumulation in the body
affects a child's health.
 School-based obesity prevention. – These include both physical and nutrition lessons
with the focus on the prevention of obesity.
 Childcare/daycare centers – these are institutions formed to monitor the eating behaviors
of children strictly and teach them on proper eating habits.

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 Young children obesity - is the condition whereby the excess fat accumulation in the body
affects an adolescent children well-being.
The ultimate way to modify the effects of obesity on the children and the adults is to
ensure there is a reduced intake of fat sugars and calories consumed (Brownell & Walsh, 2018).
However, it remains possible only is that individuals keep track of what they consume and
exercise regularly. Whenever an individual engages in physical exercise, he/she burns the excess
fat and does not give any room for fat accumulation.
Search tools
Analysis.
The computation of medical reports from administrative data and data from the wards of
people with obesity to complete data captured. However, the data that is obtained and presented
are analyzed using descriptive statistics: descriptive statistics is the summary of information that
quantitatively defines the characteristics of information collected.
Finding. The results from the random controlled trial used in the research process where
obese patients were selected randomly and the results based on outcome measures for both
inpatients and outpatients obtained.
Procedure.
Wards were attended daily during visiting hours where data collected from nurse ward
admission records, discharge records and papers based in-patient medical history
Observation
Data collected was from the inspection of the nurse records as handed to the
administration for the update and the ward records frequently examined by the ward staff.
Observation of the sample size on the eating and excise habit was also useful through active
participation in the activities the involved into.it was the most effective and primary source of the
information as engaged in the social events and lifestyle such as culture, norms, and beliefs.
Literature review
Introduction

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Obesity is world-wide health dislike the effects of the health and lifecycle of both the
elderly and children in less developed countries and developed countries. In those countries, the
proportions of adults living with obesity are high and persistent. The absolute and relative fat
accumulation and redistribution, hormonal imbalance, limited physical activities, and poor
physical fitness usually occur in the later stages of an individual's life. These characterize the risk
factor, and clinical emergencies for the development of obesity and abdominal overweight
creates leeway for various chronic diseases (Theodore, McLean, & TeMorenga, 2015). For
instance, Type II diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, gall-bladder diseases (gall stones), high blood
pressure, fat-liver diseases, infertility, high triglycerides and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL)
and breathing disorder, all these could lead to premature mortality to the affected individual and
the country.
Obesity can be caused by various factors which include: unhealthy eating habits, laziness;
lack of physical exercise in the average daily operations, pregnancy; a woman gains weight
during pregnancy and after delivery finds it challenging to lose weight. Genetics, genes can
influence the amount of fat stored in the body and the conversion of the excess fat to energy.
Socio-economic issues subsist believed that most poor people are obese since they are unable to
afford a good and balanced diet. On the other hand, rich people since they have money can
provide what they like hence improper eating habits. Nevertheless, obesity has several effects
which include; stigmatization because of low self-esteem following the embracement of the body
shape and mass, depression; low performance at work, sexual inactivity.
Concerning the issue of obesity in New Zealand, the research process carried out on
obesity was followed up and the responses to the recommendations sourced from the relevant
sources. The summary of the result of the follow up is as follows.
Education
Education was the main contributor to obesity in the county as many people in the county
are illiteracy on healthy food. Following the response from the ministry of education, it appears
that the ministry has complied with the recommendation highlighted.
Considering the high rate of obesity in young and children, the ministry of education as
decided to add unit in the curriculum to equip and educate the young people about obesity.
Schools are the critical influencing setting to children in taking unhealthy foods thus introducing

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the education systems will help reduce the level of obesity (Carayon, 2016). The government
introduced some of the elements in schools which comprise of school food and nutrition policies,
training teachers and food service staffs, a guideline for offering healthy food and drinks.
However, the implementation of these elements aided in reducing the obesity level in young and
children.
Also, the government urged the parents and families to observe the food give to their
children knowing that the home system setting will be influential in shaping the eating and
physical activities behavior of children and young people (Handjiev, 2017). Furthermore, the
lifestyle of the family is the determinant of the rate of obesity, and thus it was a responsibility of
the government in educating the parents on the healthy diet that stays recommended through
training, advertisement, and seminars.
Level of income
Following the claim that the low income among the people in the county is among the
contributors to the obesity rate, the government introduced strategies that increased the level of
income of the population. These strategies are summarized below:
Construction of small and medium enterprises in rural and low-level income location to
create job opportunities thus increasing their level of income. Nevertheless, small and medium
enterprise improve infrastructures such road and internet network which increases the
transportation, natural distribution of quality products and access to information.
Additionally, income generated from the small and medium enterprising raised the living
standards of the people in the area thus affording good healthcare and healthy and nutritious
good, hence, fewer obesity issues reported. Consequently, the government expanded the
(Hilliard, Riekert, Judith K. Ockene, & Lori Pbert, 2018) local industries to create more jobs to
the people of New Zealand thus improving their lives (Lenz, 2018). Nevertheless, construction of
agricultural industries leads to an increase in production, ensuring the county is food secure and
some exported earning the country foreign exchange, hence, increasing per capita.
Finally, the farmers remain seen as the poor people in the society; however, the
government protects them by providing them with subsidies, provision of credits and access to
market both locally and internationally. Therefore, the farmers can market their products thus
earning income that helps them acquire good health care and healthy fresh food, hence, less
obesity.

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Measures to tackle obesity in New Zealand
Obesity is a worldwide concern that threatens the economy of the country as the rate by
the OECD. However, the country has several potential measures to reduce obesity that are
effective and implicated by both government, private sectors and international agencies.
The government regulates misleading information that can lead to the promotion of
specific products through nutrition claim. The claim clearly outlines the aspect of the content
required in food such as fats (Macdermott, 2019). Therefore, the manufacturing and processing
industries remain provided with information that claims the production of high-quality food will
low calories. Overall, nutrition clam aid in customers preference and manufacturers demand. The
other measure government of New Zealand could enforce is a commercial/fiscal food policy;
which includes the taxing of unhealthy foodstuff aiming at the reduction of consumption and
buying pattern (Ogden, 2018). Pricing of commodities has a direct influence on food buying
pattern and nutrient intake. However, food policies have to be complemented by other measures
to improve nutrition status if the population and those that influenced the preference of low
income and the less educated consumer.
Additionally, reduction in the marketing of an enormous volume of food high in fat, sugar
content and fast food to young people through financial education can help reduce obesity in
young people. Furthermore, the advertisement can help focus on nutrition education and physical
activities rather than focusing on unhealthy food (Steelman & Westman, 2016). The strategy,
however, has a high potential to influence a large population in a variety of choices in the food
they consume. Finally, through a high level of obesity in the country, the government can
introduce nutrition programs by identifying healthier food choice to the final consumers. Also,
nutrition criteria in products are put in place to ensure low fat-food with energy density required
in particular food (Theodore, McLean, & TeMorenga, 2015). Finally, there is a need to bridge the
gap between the forms and the number of facts intended for the ideal basis for acting and the
categories and enough information should be made available to meet the demanded needs
globally.
Conclusion
In conclusion, indeed education and level of income are the primary determinants of
obesity in any given country, however, through government intervention in providing income-
generating programs and health education and schools and home, played a critical role in the

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reduction of obesity. Nevertheless, the measures used in tackling remained effective and
therefore fewer cases of obesity in the country. As a result, evaluating and offering solutions to
the research problem questions by addressing the public to change their lifestyle and living
actively to prevent the increasing rate of obesity in children, adults, and the country.
Additionally, the idea of modeling health behavior in society creates a need for an investigation
to keep the country healthy. Throughout the research process, not only did it focus on obesity but
also learned massively about the related complications and how the disorder affects the quality
life of an individual. Finally, the recommendation to the New Zealand government is to press
charges to parents contributing to childhood obesity to reduce child obesity.

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