Ottawa Health Charter: A Framework for Obesity Prevention

This essay discusses obesity as a medical condition and emphasizes the importance of prevention using the Ottawa Health Charter of 1986. It highlights action plans such as developing personal skills through self-discipline and preparation, creating supportive environments to combat stigma, reorienting health services towards prevention, strengthening community action by empowering health workers, and building healthy public policies with insurance coverage and decentralized facilities. The essay also stresses the importance of future planning through research to identify potential causes and outcomes, enabling early interventions. The conclusion reiterates that obesity can be addressed through the charter's action plans, promoting awareness, prevention, and early treatment.

Running head: OTTAWA HEATH CHARTER IN THE PREVENTION OF OBESITY
Obesity
Student’s name
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Introduction
Obesity is a medical condition which occurs when an individual carries excess body
weight or body fat that might affect his or her health. Body mass index is usually used by
physicians to determine whether a person has obesity. The body mass index tells whether an
individual has appropriate weight to their height, age and sex. An obese person has higher risks
of developing other health complications such as arthritis, cancer and metabolic syndrome which
encompasses high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Maintaining a
healthy weight is therefore essential in preventing obesity. Identifying if an individual is obese
requires the medical practitioners to use body mass index where weight is related to height. The
Ottawa health charter of 1986 came with significant action plans which any nation that is in
pursuit of a healthy population should put into considerations.
The Ottawa health charter of 1986 has been a major milestone in the promotion of health
literacy, empowerment and education (Sharma, Goodwin, & Causgrove, 2018). Health
promotion, a process of enabling people to increase control over and improve their health has
outlined fundamental requirements for good health as; food, education, income, sustainable
resources, social equality and justice, shelter, peace and a stable ecosystem. It has also achieved
its objectives through educating individuals on the importance of their health, bringing equality
in the health sector for all individuals to access health services and bringing mediation between
all concerned individuals. The following action plans according to the charter can be followed to
prevent obesity
Development of personal skills

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Self-discipline and preparation should be inculcated through learning (Plunkett, 2019)
This will help individuals who are at the risk of getting obesity to regulate their eating habits,
exercise and resting periods. For instance a person at risk will be able to reduce food intake,
increase amount of exercise an aspect that will lead to prevention of obesity. Those with children
who are at risk too will be able to feed them appropriately and show them the way to reduce the
risk. Caregivers and teachers should also be given appropriate guidelines on how to deal with
school going children to avoid any possible risks that might arise while in school. According to
Timnea, Larisa,Timnea, Potop, & Jurat, (2018), extracurricular activities should be initiated in
schools to prevent too much rest. Preparation to cope with obesity for those who might have
been unable to prevent should also begin with an individual and should be facilitated at home,
school and community setting.
Create a supportive environment
Individuals living with obesity always face it rough since a majority of individual turns
them to a laughing stock. Others even get mocked as heavy feeders, fatty etc an aspect that
makes them develop low self esteem and some of them end up becoming suicidal. To prevent
this, a supportive environment should be created by making the community accept them the way
they are without necessarily making fun of them (Yujin & Soontae, 2018). Some activities can
also be organized in the community level to assist these individuals to burn the excess calories in
their bodies. Some of these activities are evening running races, community clean up, gymnastics
and some ball games. When this is initiated in the environment around obese people, then it will
be easy for them to lose weight and gain normal life as the rest.

OTTAWA HEATH CHARTER IN THE PREVENTION OF OBESITY 4
Reorientation of health services
The health sector over the years has only been sitting down waitng to treat and provide
healthcare services to the sick. This means that no single steps have been made to help the people
to prevent the ailments which when told they will be in a position to practice safety measures
against them. The health sector should therefore come with initiative such as open workshops
where people with and without obesity are allowed to attend and then the major topics to be
taught should revolve around prevention of obesity (Jopkiewicz & Nowak, 2018). Obese people
can also be invited for an open day where they should be highlighted on the importance of
exercise, controlled diet and medication with an aim of helping them to conquer the condition
more easily. Hospitals and other health facilities should also come up with a weight loss and
weight gain control sector where a qualified trainer can help obese people to lose weight and
those who are possibly accumulating a lot of calories can join in too to prevent the condition.
Strengthening community action
The community can participate in the prevention of obesity. This can be possible through
empowering community health workers to be able to identify signs of obesity and advise the
person appropriately on the preventive measures voluntarily. As connoted by Alkan,
Altunkaynak, Altun, & Erener, (2019), community health workers can also be trained to
administer specialized preventive measures against obesity rather than waiting until it is too late
to treat. The workers can also be authorized to conduct workshops and seminars to raise the level

OTTAWA HEATH CHARTER IN THE PREVENTION OF OBESITY 5
of health awareness amongst its people. They can also be allowed to undertake the first
assessment procedures in order to refer individuals appropriately based on the level of their
obese condition. When these community health workers become accountable, then it will turn
out to be very easy to prevent obesity amongst members of the community.
Building healthy public policy
Health promotion policy needs a combination of diverse and complimentary approaches.
To eradicate obesity amongst individuals who are at a higher risk (Willweber, & Cillík, 2018).
The government should come up with health policies aimed at ensuring workers in the
government sector, those in the private sector, those who are not working and even children are
provided with insurance cover to enable them get treatment services at reasonable prices. Health
facilities should also be evenly distributed according to the population to avoid overcrowding in
a few facilities which might lead to numerous deaths while waiting to be attended to.
Decentralization of facilities which are highly equipped to deal with obesity will help to ensure
all cases even those deep in the rural areas are attended to hence minimization of deaths related
to the condition. Hite, Victorson, Elue, & Plunkett, (2019), connotes that highly qualified
personnel should also be dispatched to work in the decentralized medical facilities rather than
keeping them in major referral hospitals where they may have to waste a lot of time waiting to
attend to a few referred cases.
Having future plans
A serious government in dealing with a condition like obesity will not only concentrate
with the now issues facing its population but will try as much as possible to move into the future
(Kelley, 2019). Obesity being a condition that is brought about by feeding habits, exercise issues

OTTAWA HEATH CHARTER IN THE PREVENTION OF OBESITY 6
and relaxation can be dealt with in the future by conducting research in order to come up with
different strategies. For instance, future possible causes which when identified, health workers
are convened educated and dispatched to share the knowledge with the entire population, future
possible outcomes of the disease will also be identified and appropriate measures to prevent the
disease from occurring (Jayawardene, Lohrmann, Dickinson, & Torabi, 2018).
The possible treatment that can be undertaken will also be considered and researchers
allowed to try and get the required medicines to deal with the ailment in case the preventive
measures against it fail to work (Cillik, 2018). When the level of awareness is raised concerning
the uncertainties of the future about obesity, people will tend to be more keen and accurate on
any possible details concerning the disease. This will therefore make individuals to report any
case early which means that early interventions will be made and at the initial stages before an
individual suffers much pain and mental torture (Kalmykova, Kalmykov, & Bismak, 2018). This
therefore means a larger population of the country will be able to exercise many of the
preventive measures other than the curative ones which also come along with specific side
effects.
Conclusion
The aspect of obesity complication takes in the body as a result of several reasons that
varies from one person to another. It occurs when an individual carries excess body weight and
body fats that might end up affecting their health. To identify whether an individual is obese or
not, doctors use body mass index where weight is related to height. They can also be allowed to
undertake the first assessment procedures based on the level of their obese condition. The Ottawa

OTTAWA HEATH CHARTER IN THE PREVENTION OF OBESITY 7
health charter of 1986 came with significant action plans which any nation that is in pursuit of a
healthy population should put into considerations. The action plans are building a healthy public
policy aimed at ensuring health services are available, reorientation of health services to ensure
awareness is raised, moving into the future to make significant inventions, development of
personal skills to prevent obesity at a personal level, creation of a supportive environment which
can support existence of healthy people and strengthening community action which will make
the community ready to act in whatever capacity to prevent disease outbreak.

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References
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development and obesity parameters in 6 to 7 year old children. Journal of Physical
Education & Sport, 18(3), 1785–1790. Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=s3h&AN=132860596&site=ehost-live
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