Analyzing Health Care Policies and Programs for Obesity in India

This report provides an overview of healthcare policies and programs addressing obesity and mental health in India. It begins by defining obesity and its connection to eating disorders, exploring myths, causes, and the impact of mental illness. The report emphasizes the importance of a healthy lif...Read More

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HEALTH CARE POLICY
Module Number

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Table of Contents
Health care policy on obesity as a mental problem in India........................................................................1
EATING DISORDER AND OBESITY.................................................................................................................1
MYTH AND OBESITY.....................................................................................................................................3
CAUSES OF OBESITY.....................................................................................................................................4
MENTAL ILLNESS AND OBESITY...................................................................................................................4
Role played by the healthy life style............................................................................................................5
Preventions and actions..............................................................................................................................6
References...................................................................................................................................................9

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Health care policy on obesity as a mental problem in India
Obesity is the excessive consumption of fat in the body which ultimately leads to overweight and
serious health issues. It can also be defined as an eating disorder wherein the person intakes the
unhealthy food and thereby gain calories which causes negative effects in his/her body. When
the person doesn’t burn calories or doesn’t perform physical activities in order to burn the
excessive fat, that’s when body gains excessive weight which is what the term obesity means.
EATING DISORDER AND OBESITY
To be physically, mentally fit body requires a good diet. As there is a saying that people should
eat with the proper numbers in their eating habits. Therefore, it is assessed that it is much better
to avoid those junk food even if it is available at a very cheap price because the consequences are
much costly. As it is seen that the cafes, street food stalls being overcrowded by the people
which is also a very big factor or a strong contributor to Obesity.
On the other hand, ordering food online has become so easy that people don’t even bother to
cook food. Within a click we can order whatever we want even when we don’t know how
unhygienic it is or how unhealthy it is. Therefore, in this era where everything is available in just
a click it’s much better to avoid what is not good for us physically, mentally, socially. Self-care
is vital because no one knows us better than us. Nonetheless, with the excessive eating habits,
people fails to manage their body organ which negatively impacts their long term sustainability.
The worst thing that a person does is not burning the calories and avoiding the fact that what
he/she is consuming is causing negative effects in his body physically as well as mentally
There are many changes in social, industrial and economic condition of India and it is changing
the life of people on a global basis which people in India needs to follow to control their obesity
and mental illness issues. It is impacting the diet as well as the patterns related to physical
activity because people are very busy in daily lives. They do not have the time for thinking about
the wellbeing of oneself and the other people and it result in bad health conditions and highly
dangerous diseases. Such lifestyle results in obesity in the population of whole world including
India and government is preparing plans for coping up with this issue. Obesity is a very serious
issue nowadays and it may result in serious diseases like heart issues, cancer and diabetes. There

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are many policies forms for saving the people from Obesity in the country and this is an
important topic where there is a role of government and healthcare policies of India.
People in India need to be more inclined towards setting up their diet chart so that they could
determine the proper food intake which they needs to take in their daily eating habits. The
prepared diet chart needs to be customized with a view to strengthen the daily outcomes with the
less calories. The obesity in the human body in India plays pivotal role in determining the
obesity in the Indian men and women. It is considered that people in India are more found of
sweets and they damage their body parts or organ with the excessing consumption of the sweets.
Nonetheless, proper awareness and monitoring of the recorded health care data needs to be
maintained by the people to strengthen their health car program. Furthermore, health care and
obesity control policies are created for improving the current trend in health and social care in
India and to provide an assurance related to the services that are completely supported by the
Indian government.
Source (Tseng, et al. 2019).
WHO (World Health Organization) has defined Obesity as an issue where people are overweight
and there is a bad BMI. BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight by the height of the
person. The main factor for using BMI is, it helps in sowing the difference between fat mass and
lean mass, so it becomes easy for a person to identify that a person could be healthy and have

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less body fat percentage. A person is considered as overweight when the BMI is 25.0 or more
and this converts into a stage of obesity when a person’s BMI is 30.0. Such policies have been
created by the government in power and must possess the authority to create policy. Health
policy includes both micro and macro social developments. Macro level includes formal
structures like economic state of the market as well as National Health Service. On the other
hand, micro includes factors that influence the policy by healthcare professionals and the overall
user experience (Simms, Madelyn, Battistelli, & Kaufman, 2018). Basically, policy making
refers to a method in which there is a creation of programs and action by the Government after
the interpretation of political vision. It helps in making required changes for public benefit and
has been created in public demand only. The policy is planned in such a manner that assures a
more evidence based forward thinking and is completely based on the best practice. It is
developed after knowing the requirement of improved evidence at the time of preparation of
policy. The health policy shows the plans, actions as well as the decisions that has been taken for
achieving the health goals of the society. It shows that there should be a very strong policy that
can show the idea for the future and help in achieving the objectives as well as orientation
(Tseng, et al. 2019). A health policy is also responsible for designing the framework and create
agreement so as to inform the people. Government of India is responsible in forming three kinds
of policy – National Health, Social care and Public Health. All policies are created for improving
the current trend in health and social care in India and to provide an assurance related to the
services that are completely supported by the Indian government.
MYTH AND OBESITY
Many people have this thinking that in order to gain weight too much food should be consumed
so that it doesn’t lead to weight loss (Kwok, et al. 2016). And unfortunately the obesity gets
unnoticed while consuming all the unhealthy food and the serious health issues occurs. It is much
better to eat less than following a diet which makes the body ill mentally and physically ( Speyer,
et al. 2019). . Although, following a proper diet is the best idea to avoid obesity as the body
needs to have a ‘’controlled’’ diet. The worst thing that a person does is not burning the calories
and avoiding the fact that what he/she is consuming is causing negative effects in his body
physically as well as mentally (Davis, et al. 2015).

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CAUSES OF OBESITY
1 Overeating
Excessive intake of fatty acids and calories that ultimately leads to overweight.
2 Lack of Physical Activity
Not performing exercises on a daily basis ultimately makes body gain a lot of weight.
3 Genetics
There are chances that children of obese parents are much more likely to become obese as
compared to children of lean parents.
4 Unhealthy Diet
The intake of unhealthy food such as the junk food or the packed food is the factor leading to
overweight.
5 Stress
People who take a lot of stress either tend to become too thin or too fat.
6 Availability of food Online
Nowadays, the food is available online easily and the offers and discounts it has indeed attracts
people to buy it (Brostow, et al. 2019).
Therefore, in order to curb these obesity issue and increasing mental illness in men and women
in India, proper health care program would be arranged or managed. The daily events and health
care service program would be implemented to strengthen the health care of the people.
Furthermore, support health care program and modern living standard with the healthy eating
habits would be prompted (Kuo, et al. 2016). The modern living patterns ensures that upcoming
population would be heavier if we compare it to the last
MENTAL ILLNESS AND OBESITY
Mental illness is something which should not be avoidable.
There are many factors affecting Obesity which are a point of concern
As it has been said that people having Anxiety Obesity tend to eat so quick that the food doesn’t
get digested which leads to even gain more weight than what was earlier.

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Obesity can be a result of ‘’Low Self Esteem ‘’. They think that they are not so good looking or
they are not as beautiful or blessed as compared to others which ultimately causes stress in their
minds and obesity occurs (Gunja, et al. 2018).
People who over think about everything especially about their looks tend to gain weight and it
causes serious health issues like High Blood Pressure, Heart diseases
However, people needs to be self-care in order to avoid the obesity in their health and mental
issue. Nonetheless, Self-care is vital because no one knows us better than us (Iqbal, Nasrullah, &
Ikram, 2019).
Role played by the healthy life style
The Major role of the state in setting up the health and care to the public is to understand the five
different concepts and the political actions of the role that state has to pay in order to delivering
the health and welfare services. The major reason of people getting obese is capitalism and the
development of fast food culture among the people. There are many food chains that are offering
tasty fast food (Greenfield, et al. 2016). As per the increase in the cases of obesity, there is an
increase in cost to NHS. The consequences of Obesity are very challenging for the whole country
and it creates an impact on the society by increasing the chances of life-threatening disease
(Lamptey, 2014). The healthy life style needs also be followed by the human to promote the
health support program. The diet chart needs to be changed by the human to strengthen their
work program and lower down the calories intake and other toxins in the body. The consumption
of the alcoholic, and Tabaco is also major factors which negatively impact the obesity and
mental illness. The regular consumption of the Tabaco impact the nervous system of the people
in India which eventually increase the stress and also negatively impacts the other body organs
(World Health Organization. 2018).
Indian government follows these policies ‘A fitter future for all’ and ‘Healthy Lives, Healthy
people’ but there are high determinants of bad health like inequalities in the society and poverty.
These factors play a very important role in obesity. There are many arguments that policies that
are targeting the reason of obesity are not actively showing the solution of the problem, rather
government should inform people about changing eating habits, but they are unable to afford
better lifestyle. India is a developing country and the rate of obesity are inclined towards the

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rising stage and it is also related to the growing social disadvantage and social deprivation.
Socio- economic class of people is considered as a factor in terms of health and wellness in India
because of the historical data. There are a lot of inequalities prevailing in the society that leads in
high level of obesity and people of every class are not able to access good medical facilities
(Lucan, Maroko, & Jordan, Green Carts, 2020).
According to a report, government of India declared that most of the obese population belongs to
the middle age group and they are already on the edge of diseases. The modern living patterns
ensures that upcoming population would be higher. This report also reflects that the obesity is a
multifarious and it never happened when obesity has been reversed. A study has approved that
there is a complete relation between the health and wealth. The findings are really serious as it
shows that por people die only before seven years earlier than the rich people, but they can
become disables after the age of 17. Every human being is a part of social and economic setting
and all factors create an impact on living beings (Tsai, et al. 2017).
Poor people have limited choices regarding lifestyle choices for instance, they are not able to
afford gym. They also have poor housing and they live in unhealthy environments that can be a
reason of social culture where these people reside and there is a lack of resources. Prevention of
obesity is very important and due to the high health issues arise from the obesity (Brilakis, et al.
2016). Therefore, all the government policies are inclined towards the primary prevention of
obesity that can be done by eating well, no smoking and doing regular workouts. Social
determinants are also considered as important factors in obesity for adults as well as children. As
per World Health Organization, social condition in which people reside play a very important
role in maintaining the health of people (Slutsky, et al. 2010). There are many reasons for this
like poor housing, lack of income sources and lack of proper healthcare facilities. It also results
in high inequalities (Moore, Stunkard, & Srole, 2012).
Preventions and actions
However, there are several issues related to the obesity and mental illness in human body, but
Prevention of obesity is very important and a goal when there are different health issues acquired
because of obesity and that can be an issue even after losing the weight (Brilakis, et al. 2016).
Therefore, all the government policies are inclined towards the primary prevention of obesity

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that can be done by eating well, no smoking and doing regular workouts. Only medical care can
not result in improving the health and wellness of a person, but it mainly depends upon the work
and living conditions (Taylor, 2015). The major social factors of health are social, economic and
environmental factors and these have the capabilities to impact the health of people. Such factors
are social support, education, income, employment and literacy. Other downstream factors are
clean air, water and healthy housing, it can directly impact the health of people belong to
different social groups and it can also result in obesity. Areas where there is a low
socioeconomic condition has higher cases of childhood obesity as per the report released by
National Health Service Information Centre. As per Indian government, health policies are micro
driven but there is an argument on it that they are macro driven because obesity result in high
cost in long run because it results in diseases like heart issues and diabetes. Handling obesity is
not only a challenge for India, but it is considered as a global challenge (Scott, et al. 2018).
Earlier, obesity rates were quite low in 1970s that leads to increase in obesity in individuals like
environment, food and physical activity (Hodgson, & Cohen, 2019).
The main health implications that resulted from obesity are highly immense and may result in
premature death as well. Obesity is the result of intake of high energy through food and drink
and resulted to excess fat in the body. It is known as obesogenic environment that has been
created and it also play an important part in obesity (Cserjési, Molnár, Luminet, & Lénárd,
2017). Government considers both social and economic circumstances while making policies as
it is the responsibility of policy makers. The overall thought behind these policies are the lack of
insights inti the part of the society where there is deprived and socio -economic areas, where
there is a lack in facilities. This results in changing the thought process of individuals where they
feel that their contribution is very important for the society and they have to care about their own
well-being as well as health. All the policies are not for any one specific group and one policy
cannot work for everyone so it is important for everyone to check the policies and focus on it and
then utilize the same as per the requirement or needs (Scott, et al. 2008). Such policies should be
in favor of public and easily understandable for everyone to adopt and utilize. Therefore, in this
era where everything is available in just a click it’s much better to avoid what is not good for us
physically, mentally, socially. Self-care is vital because no one knows us better than us
(Glasziou, et al. 2017). The better health care policy and obesity control mechanism is set up.
Nonetheless, people in India need to focus on health care and obesity control policies which are

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created for improving the current trend in health and social care in India and to provide an
assurance related to the services that are completely supported by the Indian government
(Hibbard, & Greene, 2013).

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