Strategy to Address Obesity and Overweight in the UK - Essay Example

The “Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives” Strategy to address Obesity and Overweight in the UK Introduction Obesity has become a major concern in recent years. It is a health condition that results when a person’s energy intake from consumption of food surpasses the amount of energy that is utilised in physical activity, hence resulting in excess body weight (Burniat, 2002, p. 94). Many countries have recognised the severity of the condition, which is mostly related the almost non-active lifestyle in many societies in the modern world. The UK has established itself as one of the countries of the Western world which is at the forefront of preventing or reducing obesity and overweight conditions. This paper evaluates a key strategy adopted by the UK government to help reduce the prevalence of obesity among its population. Dubbed “Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives”, the strategy is a cross-government initiative whose focus is to make England the first nation to reverse the increasing wave of obesity and overweight in the society by making sure that everyone is capable of achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. The strategy also focuses on children, with a target of ensuring that levels of obesity and overweight among children by 2020 will be reduced to those experienced in 2000 (Department of Health, 2008a, p. v). Overview of the “Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives” strategy The strategy is premised on the fact that obesity and overweight are some of the spinoffs of the modern lifestyle. The modern lifestyle epidemics are currently one of the biggest challenges of people’s health. According the UK Prime Minister’s foreword in the strategy paper, in England alone, about a quarter of men and women were obese by 2008. Further, the trends for children were even a bigger cause for alarm as almost a fifth of youngsters aged between two and five years were obese, while an additional 14 percent were overweight. The Prime Minister also quoted the Foresight report which indicated that based on the existing trends, approximately 60 percent of the UK residents will be obese by the year 2050 (Department of Health, 2008a, p. iii). This trend is also evident across many other countries, as Hossain, Kawar and El Nahas (2007) note that over the past 20 years, the levels of obesity have tripled in many developing nations that have been taking on a Western lifestyle that involves low physical activity and high intakes of cheap, energy-rich food. The aforementioned points are some of the key issues that necessitated the formulation of a strategy to attempt to reverse the situation. More significantly, the strategy emphasises the responsibility of government as well as the wider society to ensure that families and individuals have access to the opportunities that they want and that they also have the information they require so as to make healthy choices and practice greater control over their health and lives (Department of Health, 2008a, p. iii). The strategy recognises that although the UK is a successful country, it is affected by a problem whose cause is well known – that people eat too much and participate in little physical activity (Department of Health, 2008a, p. vii). It further notes that while personal responsibility for choices regarding energy consumption and utilisation is important, there are many other factors that play a role in contributing to obesity. Additionally, the strategy paper cites the Foresight report which indicated that the changing pattern of life, which equally impacts consumption of food and physical activity, makes it even more difficult for people to sustain healthy weight (Department of Health, 2008a, p. xi). Hence, there is need for the government and other institutions to be actively involved in ensuring that people maintain healthy weights. But a key highlight of the strategy is that the government should not be involved in lecturing or hectoring, but in increasing prospects for people to make the appropriate choices for themselves as well as their families; in ensuring that people have lucid and effective information regarding food, physical activity and their health; and in making sure that the policies put in place support the population in their efforts to sustain a healthy weight (Department of Health, 2008a, p. xi). This concept of government involvement is valuable because according to a Scottish report dealing with obesity, obesity and overweight cannot be tackled by merely relying on people to change behaviour since the factors that add up to gaining weight are intertwined in the fabric of people’s lifestyles to the extent that weight gain is almost unavoidable in the present society (Scottish Government, 2010, p. v). According to this report, although provision of health information is important, it is not adequate; and to achieve the necessary change, there is need to reshape people’s living setting from one that enhances weight gain to one that advocates for healthy choices (Scottish Government, 2010, p. v). In recognition of such points, the “Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives” strategy is designed to be a cross-cutting concept that focuses on intervening in children’s early years, food, schools, sport, as well as physical activity. Other key areas that the strategy pays attention to include planning, health service, transport, and all other areas that need to support the establishment of a people that fully promote health. Key areas taken into consideration in the strategy The UK government, while acknowledging that the problem of obesity and overweight should not be exclusively a concern of the government, came up with a strategy that can encourage recognition of the problem, owning it and addressing it at every level and all parts of the society (Department of Health, 2008a, p. 5). The strategy highlights five key areas that need attention in order to tackle excess weight based on the Foresight report. These are healthy growth and healthy weight of children; encouraging healthier food choices; incorporating physical activity into people’s lives; developing opportunities for improved health; and personalised guidance and support (Department of Health, 2008a, p. 5). All these mentioned areas can interact in different ways to facilitate a balance between food intake and physical activity as illustrated in the figure below. Figure 1: The major sectors that must play a fundamental role in averting obesity and overweight. Source: Department of Health (2008a, p. 5) Healthy growth and healthy weight of children The concern for children is founded on the fact that early prevention of weight problems in children helps to avoid carrying the problem into adulthood (Department of Health, 2008a, p. 5). The strategy is similar to the NSW Government Action Plan (GAP) 2003-2007 of Australia (NSW Government, 2003) in the sense that this plan also focused on children as the critical players in averting obesity and overweight if they are taught ways to do so at an early age. GAP recognises the importance of incorporating children in efforts to avoid obesity by offering them better opportunities to lead an active lifestyle and make healthier food choices. This also requires the participation of parents, schools and the community at large to ensure that children exercise regularly and take the appropriate kind of food that will help check overweight and obesity. It is important to involve children in initiatives to avoid obesity and overweight because according to the WHO (2009, p. 8), once children become obese or overweight, it is seldom easy for them to lose the weight through a healthy diet or physical activity. Consequently, a strategy that seeks to engage children from an early age is worthwhile because it is a lifelong method of helping to realise health advantages. The strategy laid out immediate plans to: Identify the families that are at risk as early as possible and promote breastfeeding as the normal practice for mothers Disseminate better information to parents regarding their children’s health by offering them the results from the National Child Measurement Programme Invest to guarantee that all schools are healthy schools by making cooking a compulsory component of the curriculum by 2011 for children aged between 11 and 14 years Require all schools to develop healthy lunch box policies so that those schools not already engaged in healthy programmes also do so Create tailored programmes in schools to enhance the involvement of obese and oversight students in physical education and sporting activities Invest in an evidence-based marketing initiative to inform, support and empower parents to make changes to their diets and levels of exercise (Department of Health, 2008a, p. xii). The points above show that the strategy gave special consideration to schools and parents as key players in relation to avoiding overweight and obesity among children. For instance, it has been shown that breastfeeding consistently from day one significantly reduces the incidence of childhood obesity (California WIC Association & The Davis Human Lactation Centre, 2006, p. 2; Department of Health, 2008a, p. 14). Similarly, Lindsay et al (2006, p.170) posit that parents play a crucial role in developing a home environment that encourages healthy eating among children. Parents also shape their children’s physical activity, sedentary behaviour and ultimately weight status. Moreover, parents are pivotal in reinforcing and encouraging the acquisition and maintenance of food consumption and exercise behaviours (Lindsay et al, 2006, p.170; Davies & Fitzgerald, 2008, p. 235). Similarly, schools have been identified to contribute significantly to reducing childhood obesity (Kropski, Keckley & Jensen, 2008). Encouraging healthier food choices The aim of this initiative is to promote a society where the food that people eat is healthier by lowering consumption of foods that have a high fat, sugar and salt content and increasing the consumption of vegetables and fruits (Department of Health, 2008a, p. 5). Since individuals and families have a responsibility in regard to making healthy choices, the aim of the strategy was to ensure that people receive information that is helpful to them in the process of making decisions while recognising their diverse needs (Department of Health, 2008b, p. 2). A notable aspect of behaviour change mentioned in the strategy is that as parents change their behaviour to improve their children’s health outcomes, so too must food processors change to support every individual in making healthier food choices. As a result of the government’s involvement, some manufacturers, caterers and retailers have been very active in encouraging healthier eating, but according to the strategy, more still needs to be done given the magnitude of the crisis in obesity and overweight (Department of Health, 2008a, p. 17). Nonetheless, merely providing healthful food products on the market is not enough to deal with the obesity and overweight pandemic as there are other factors that determine how individuals make food choices (Dubé et al, 2010, p. 557). These include income and education, health and nutrition awareness and perceived food value among others (Dubé et al, 2010, p. 557-558). Incorporating physical activity into people’s lives This area involves getting people moving as part of their daily routine. The government was cognisant of the fact that many individuals already participate in physical activity through cycling or walking for short journeys, dance sessions, gym memberships and formal sport. However, it saw the need to invest more in areas such as supporting the “Walking into Health” programme to encourage walking to and at work and setting up a working group with the entertainment technology industry to enable the players to continue developing tools to permit parents to control the time that their children spend in sedentary activity such as playing games online (Department of Health, 2008a, p. 20). The fact that regular physical activity helps to guard against heart disease and obesity (Wilkinson & Marmot, 2003, p. 28) makes physical activity a critical component of any strategy to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity. Such programmes have been implemented in different forms such as the GAP in NSW, Australia (NSW Government, 2003) and the Preventing Overweight and Obesity in Scotland: A Route Map towards Healthy Weight in Scotland where it is expected that increasing opportunities for as well as uptake of cycling, walking, and other physical activity in people’s daily lives will help reduce sedentary behaviour (Scottish Government, 2010, p. 16). Developing opportunities for improved health The focus of the strategy is to increase the understanding and value of people on the lasting corollary of decisions (Department of Health, 2008a, p. 5). The strategy recognises that workplaces can have a tremendous effect on employee health and offer an opportunity to promote healthy living. The strategy states that employers can encourage healthy living by making healthy alternatives available in canteens, offering fitness equipment and purchasing facilities for cyclists. By doing this, employers can benefit from improved productivity, high staff retention and morale, and lower sickness absence costs (Department of Health, 2008a, p. 22). To facilitate this, the government decided to work with employers and employer institutions to develop pilot programmes to explore how companies can best promote healthful living among their employees, and make healthy workplaces a component of their critical business model. Another move was to work with fitness and leisure sectors to determine how to boost utilisation of their services during off-peak times by both staff and families working under flexible working conditions. Further, the strategy entailed launching a number of pilot projects to assess wellbeing throughout the National Health Service (NHS), where workers are provided with personalised health service guidance and management programmes associated with personal evaluations of their health status (Department of Health, 2008a, p. 23). This strategy is also suggested by Healey and Walker (2009, p. 147). These programmes have proved to boost the health of employees and to be beneficial to employers through less absence and more a more engaged workforce (Department of Health, 2008a, p. 23). The reasoning behind such initiatives can be linked to Naidoo and Wills’ (2009) viewpoint that personal behaviour, lifestyle, knowledge and awareness can help in determining change in regard to diet and activity. Importantly, since adults spend a significant portion of their time in the workplace, making workplaces attractive for physical activity and appropriate diet will ensure appropriate change in behaviour (Park, 2009), which is also likely to be exhibited in such peoples’ home life. The UK strategy also borrows some idea from a US initiative in which people make small payments to participate in community-wide programmes to tackle obesity. Personalised guidance and support The NHS launched the “NHS Choices” website which provides advice to every individual on making decisions that lead to a healthier lifestyle. The website includes key advice on exercise and nutrition, although the detail is not tailored for particular needs. According to the strategy paper, the government will seek to further develop the website so that it offers much personalised guidelines on diet, physical activity and how to maintain a healthy weight (Department of Health, 2008a, p. 24). The government may also need to avail peer reviewed journals which are more reliable sources of information as they are commonly viewed by many Internet users (Kumanyika et al, 2011, p. 190). Conclusion The “Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives” strategy of is an effective initiative because it targets people across all ages and in diverse settings in the fight against overweight and obesity. It gives special focus to children but also encourages community-wide participation with the help of government and other institutions. The strategy also outlines initial plans for monitoring the impact of its implementation and proposes a yearly progress evaluation, including key indicators on behaviour change (Department of Health, 2008b, p. 2), and this makes it reliable since it permits evaluation of its effectiveness. Importantly, it is valuable because it has features that have been implemented in other countries including Scotland, Australia and the US. References Burniat, W. (2002). Child and Adolescent Obesity: Causes and Consequences, Prevention and Management. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. California WIC Association & The Davis Human Lactation Centre (2006). “Breastfeeding: The first defence against obesity”. A Policy Brief on Preventing Obesity in Early Childhood. 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