NR506 Healthcare Policy

Introduction:

Childhood obesity is one of the major disorders which are taking place in most of the nations. Development of obesity in such a tender age is resulting in poor quality mental as well as physical lives of the children. Over the years, the rate of childhood obesity is increasing at an alarming rate which is posing a threat to the nation (Lobstein et al., 2015). It is expected by the year 2050, approximately one third of the children population will be obese which will affect the future productivity of the nation. Hence, it is the correct time that the governmental systems should take active steps so that the children’s vulnerability to suffer from obesity could be reduced. A policy has been proposed in the following report which would be sent to the local council representatives so that they can take initiatives and promote health promotion programs so that obesity in children can be overcome.

Research conducted:

In the community of Askenborough (hypothetical name), if one takes a look around the neighborhood, it can be seen that most of the children of the region remain indoors. While communicating with guardians of the children through an open ended discussion, it was found that the recent tradition of children being hooked to television and gazettes have made them lazy as they spend most of their time on the television. The fast food advertisements provided on Television and social cites made them interested in such food which is harming their health and making them gain weight (Hall et al., 2013). Moreover another important factor noted down in the discussion was that the community lacked the presence of a green park or playground for which children were forced to remain indoors. As a result of this, children are unable to ply and undertake physical exercises which result in the management of the weight. More children play, run, jump and be physically active, the better would be their physical and cognitive development. Moreover, as this community is present on the other side of the railways lines, the government had taken few supportive initiatives for the development of the community. City buses run through the communities in the business hours even on weekends which destroy the independence of the children to go to parks and similar other playgrounds. Moreover transportation system is not frequent so it does not become possible to visit parks easily. All these should be looked by the representative of the local council so that they can propose initiatives which will help to overcome the issues.

Issue with childhood obesity:

Children with obesity often go through different physiological health consequences which destroy the quality lives at such a tender age. Some psychological symptoms which are observed are development of depressive symptom. They also include poor body image as well as low-self concept, risk of eating disorders. They also face different behaviors and learning problems (Malik et al., 2013). They also have to go through severe bullying at schools which make them involve in aggression. Some of the health related outcomes involve insulin resistance, asthma, hypertension type 2 diabetes, high LDL in blood, low HDl in blood, early puberty, sleep apnea, non alcoholic steatohepatitis and many others (Brennan, Brownson & Orleans, 2014). Moreover, it is also seen that such children often grow up to be the obese adults who also go through severe issues in life like lack of concentration in work, poor academic life, poor professional lives and many others. Hence, all these will affect the future of the nation with the development of inactive and unhealthy workforce and hence reduce productivity (McKinnon et al., 2016).

Proposal of a policy to the council for betterment of the situation:

Context: the context of the policy would be to make the council ministers aware of the effects of the childhood obesity and describe the different factors of the community which are resulting in the effect of the children gaining weight and the proposed recommendation to the council so that they can take an initiative to reduce the chances of occurring of the disorder in children (Katmarick et al., 2013).

Goal:  The goal would be to provide chances of performing physical activities. It would also prevent any physiological of health impacts of weight gain. Moreover the parent should also be educated about the ill effects of obesity so that they can protect their children form a doomed future.

Evaluation of option: The local councilor could arrange for surveys in the neighborhood by sending emails to the parents of children. The survey would be close ended where information about their children playing in the park, favorite activities, weight issues, travel to parks and others can be asked. Following these, they could also take on observational studies of the neighborhood and gain ideas about the location, unavailability of parks and co-curricular activity centers and others (Simmonds et al., 2015). They can also visit houses and discuss issues with parents un order to develop ideas on the topic. All these would help to evaluate the present situation and accordingly make them take steps.

Recommended solutions: The recommended solutions would be to introduce playgrounds and parks in close proximity of the neighborhood blocks. They should also take initiative to fix up the timing of the business hours to weekdays only keeping the roads empty so that the children can go to parks without the fear of any accidents. The council should also request the broadcasting ministers to restrict the advertisements of the fast food on carton channels. Moreover the local government should also call for meetings of the community heads to instruct them to develop training classes of the guardians about how to maintain the lifestyles and diet of the children, how children should be encouraged to play, restrict the habit of playing online games, watching television and others. Guardians should also be instructed to admit their children in any co-curricular activities of that their time remains engaged and they also get the scope of learning art (Min et al., 2017).

Funding: It can be arranged by the local government from donation and charity workshops. Moreover they should also approach the government to provide help in such a critical situation. Moreover, public health department should also be approached for funding.

Conclusion:

Childhood obesity is considered as one of the most harmful disorders for children who not only affect their present life physically and mentally bit also hampers their future life if not controlled. It often results in co morbid disorders which affect the quality of lives of children. Hence, proper policy should be adopted by the local government so that they can initiate strategies which may help in keeping  check on the rising rate of childhood obesity. Recommendations like preparing playgrounds, decreases encouragement of fast foods, more encouragement for co-curricular classes and meeting for health education for parents will bring positive impact.

References:

Brennan, L. K., Brownson, R. C., & Orleans, C. T. (2014). Childhood obesity policy research and practice: evidence for policy and environmental strategies. American journal of preventive medicine, 46(1), e1-e16.

Hall, K. D., Butte, N. F., Swinburn, B. A., & Chow, C. C. (2013). Dynamics of childhood growth and obesity: development and validation of a quantitative mathematical model. The lancet Diabetes & endocrinology, 1(2), 97-105.

Katzmarzyk, P. T., Barreira, T. V., Broyles, S. T., Champagne, C. M., Chaput, J. P., Fogelholm, M., … & Lambert, E. V. (2013). The international study of childhood obesity, lifestyle and the environment (ISCOLE): Design and methods. BMC Public Health, 13(1), 900.

Lobstein, T., Jackson-Leach, R., Moodie, M. L., Hall, K. D., Gortmaker, S. L., Swinburn, B. A., … & McPherson, K. (2015). Child and adolescent obesity: part of a bigger picture. The Lancet, 385(9986), 2510-2520.

Malik, V. S., Willett, W. C., & Hu, F. B. (2013). Global obesity: trends, risk factors and policy implications. Nature Reviews Endocrinology, 9(1), 13-27.

McKinnon, R. A., Siddiqi, S. M., Chaloupka, F. J., Mancino, L., & Prasad, K. (2016). Obesity-related policy/environmental interventions: A systematic review of economic analyses. American journal of preventive medicine, 50(4), 543-549.

Min, J., Xue, H., Wang, V. H., Li, M., & Wang, Y. (2017). Are single children more likely to be overweight or obese than those with siblings? The influence of China’s one-child policy on childhood obesity. Preventive Medicine, 103, 8-13.

Simmonds, M., Burch, J., Llewellyn, A., Griffiths, C., Yang, H., Owen, C., … & Woolacott, N. (2015). The use of measures of obesity in childhood for predicting obesity and the development of obesity-related diseases in adulthood: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Health technology assessment (Winchester, England), 19(43), 1-336.