Obesity

Obesity in 21st Century - A Major Healthcare Issue



Obesity in 21st Century - A Major Healthcare Issue

Introduction

The paper enlightens the issue of obesity as being the major healthcare problem of the 21st century. The paper focuses on increasing prevalence of obesity in the United Kingdom. It first describes the obesity as a disease and discusses the measuring techniques, medical aspects and causes of obesity. It then attempts to highlight as to how this issue can be approached by social and healthcare professionals, which include healthcare professionals and groups, dieticians and clinicians, and the government and its policies. The paper also highlights the role of individual responsibility in tackling the issue discussing specifically the individual responsibility as well as the role played by teachers and parents.

Discussion

Referring to the famous quote “Health is wealth”, it would not be incorrect to state that the United Kingdom is going bankrupt. Obesity has become a major issue in the past decade for United Kingdom and most efforts of tackling this health issue have gone in vain. Undoubtedly, obesity is regarded as one of the most serious of all the nutritional issues of the United Kingdom (Allender, & Rayner, 2007). The World Health Organization (WHO) describes obesity as a 'global epidemic' due to the fact that the prevalence of obesity in the United Kingdom poses serious problems. It is estimated that over a quarter of all adults aged over 16 years in the United Kingdom, 26% of both men as well as women, are obese (Educari, 2004).

The increasing trend of obesity, especially in young adults and children, is an alarming issue for the social and healthcare professionals. In the midst of this rising trend of obesity in the United Kingdom, social and health care professionals face an overwhelming challenge of coping with this epidemic. Due to the fact that obesity has a complex interaction with both the genetics as well as the environment, it has been considerably difficult to control this healthcare issue. The increasing rates of obesity have not only put strains on the social and healthcare professionals, but is also draining the budgets and expenditures being spent on the research, prevention as well as treatment of this healthcare issue. The prevalence of obesity in various areas of the United Kingdom is presented below in figure 1.

Figure 1: Obesity Prevalence Rates for Every Strategic Health Authority (SHA) in 2010-2011

Source: Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF)

In order to better understand the possibilities of preventing and reducing the prevalence of obesity and controlling the rising trends, it is essential that this healthcare issue be closely understood. This healthcare issue, means of determining the severity of the issue, the biological and medical aspect of the issue and its causes are discussed in the paragraphs to come (Allender, & Rayner, 2007).

Obesity - The Global Epidemic

Obesity is considered a disease and a condition of excessive accumulation of fat in the adipose tissue to an extent that may cause health impairment. It is the accumulation of fat in the body, particularly ...