OBESITY

Critically analyse the policy and Organisational challenges for Health systems in tackling obesity

Critically analyse the policy and Organisational challenges for Health systems in tackling obesity

Introduction

This paper aims at understanding how health care systems are dealing with obesity. Obesity which is a growing concern in many countries has resulted in an increase in a number of serious illnesses. The paper will commence with a brief introduction to the problem of obesity in the United Kingdom and how health systems are being affected by this growing issue in terms of their policies and practices.

Discussion

Obesity

The term obesity implies towards a person who has excessive fat in their body. The term obesity is completely different from being overweight, which means that a person has excessive body weight which includes muscles, bones, fat and water. Obesity on the other hand implies towards excessive fat in the body which causes a person to become overweight (Obesity help, 2013). There are a number of ways through which body weight can be measured; however the most commonly used method is through the body mass index. The body mass index (BMI) measures a person's weight in kilograms and divides it by the person's height. If a person has a BMI between 25 and 29 the person is considered to be overweight. However if a person's BMI is between 30 and 40 the person is considered to be obese (NHS, 2012).

The epidemic of obesity is considered to be one of the most concerning health problems the world is experiencing today. According to IASO (2012) approximately 475 million adults are obese and twice those figure numbers of people are overweight hence presently there are 1.5 billion fat people in the world. Another concerning issue is the fact that 200 million school going children are also over weight which makes this generation prone to younger people dying earlier then even their parents.

Obesity in children

Obesity amongst children is increasingly becoming common amongst various westernized nations. According to the IOTF criteria (Consult appendix A for details) it has been estimated that 10% children worldwide from the age of 5 - 17 were overweight and 2 to 3% were obese. Research proves that the earlier children become obese, the more they are prone to serious health issues.

Statistics on Obesity in England

According to the NHS 26% of both men and women aged 16 and above were classified as obese in the year 2010 and had a BMI of 30 KG and above. A greater proportion of men approximately 42% are considered as overweight instead of obese. 46% women have raised waist circumferences over 88 cm. In 2010 around three in every ten boys and girls from the age of 2 to 15 were either classified and overweight or obese.

Causes of Obesity

Simply put obesity occurs when people take in more calories from their diet than they are burning out by physical activities. However there could be a number of reasons that can cause calorie disbalancement these vary from person to person however the major causes include; genes, ...