Prevalence of Obesity in Australia

Discuss About The Policy Priorities For Cardiovascular Disease.

Obesity is typically a complex health issue to mitigate. Apart from individualized preventative measures, its mitigation also requires state or governmental assistance. Remarkably, obesity is caused by a combination of various factors which include personal factors like genetics and behavior factors such as medication use, physical inactivity, and dietary patterns.

Obesity has been prevalent in Australia for many years. It is a core public health concern which is amongst the leading factors which result in ill-health in the Australian population. The ailment is basically a medical disorder in which excess fats in the body accumulate to a point where it can result in negative effects on a person’s health.¹ It is important to note that obesity is of national concern because it can affect any person regardless of his or her socioeconomic status. The medical condition of an individual can contribute to the development of life-threatening conditions. The disorder is currently classified as a chronic illness like other diseases such as atherosclerosis and hypertension. Therefore, it is imperative for the health minister to consider the prevention and treatment of this clinical condition. Moreover, all appropriate medical procedures ought to be developed and adequately implemented to reduce the effects of the disease.

Notably, contemporary research reveals that obesity has been prevalent in Australia and has resulted in disability and death of many people. For instance, in 2014 and 2015, approximately 25% of Australian adolescents and children aged between two and seventeen years were obese; that is about 1.2 million adolescents and children. Subsequently, during the same period, almost 63% or two-thirds of adult Australians aged above eighteen years were obese, that is, approximately 11.2 million adults.² Therefore, this increase in obesity ought to necessitate the health minister to initiate and implement diverse techniques and suitable proposals which can mitigate this problem.

Obesity is caused by various factors. Poor diet is one of the major aspects that make people obese. Typically, obesity cannot happen overnight. It develops progressively in the course of time due to adoption of poor diet. In the same vein, life choices, for example, consuming fast or unprocessed foods which have high amounts of sugars and fats may cause obesity.³ Similarly, taking alcohol and sugary drinks like fruit juice frequently also make people be at risk of becoming obese. Sugary drinks and alcohol have a lot of calories. Comfort eating especially when people eat because they feel depressed or have low self-esteem could also result in increased body weight.

Causes of Obesity

Subsequently, reduced or lack of physical activity can also cause obesity. Many people have jobs which involve less physical activities, rely on cars, and watch television for relaxation, therefore, completely avoiding exercise. The energy which is produced by the food that people eat is not utilized if they do not get involved in physical activity. As such, additional energy is stored mostly as body fat. Therefore, it is recommended that people conduct approximately two hours of moderate aerobic activities like walking and cycling every week.

Consequently, genetic related factors contribute to people’s obesity. Genetic conditions like Prader-Willi syndrome increases chances of being obese. Inheritance of genetic characteristics from parents, for instance, having an abnormally increased appetite might make losing weight much difficult. On the other hand, medical reasons also contribute to increased body weight. For instance, hypothyroidism, where people have slightly underactive thyroid glands, is a significant cause of obesity. The thyroid gland of persons that have the condition does not produce adequate hormones.⁴ Cushing’s syndrome, an unusual medical disorder, which causes overproduction of steroid hormones contributes to obesity. Nonetheless, if the above medical situations are appropriately diagnosed and suitable medication provided, they ought to cause no barrier in regards to weight loss. Some medicines like corticosteroids, antidepressants and those for diabetes, epilepsy, mental illness and schizophrenia can also lead to weight gain.

Obesity intensifies the probability of diverse ailments specifically diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, depression, osteoarthritis, some cancers and obstructive sleep apnea. Obesity, therefore, lowers life expectancy if it is not well managed. The medical condition also increases the likelihood of most mental and physical clinical conditions. The comorbidities are usually commonly revealed in metabolic syndrome.⁵ Metabolic syndrome is normally a combination of clinical disorders that include high triglyceride level, increased blood cholesterol, blood pressure.

Obesity causes health threats which can be classified into two categories. First, obesity causes health hazards which are attributable to effects of raised fat mass like osteoarthritis and social stigmatization. Additionally, it also causes those medical situations which result due to increased fat cells such as cancer and diabetes. The increase in fats in the body interferes with the body’s ability to respond to insulin possibly causing insulin resistance.

Obese individuals are the risk of getting various types of cancers. Males face the threat of getting neoplasms for the prostate, rectum, and colon. Contrariwise, overweight women risk getting cancers of the gallbladder, endometrium and reproductive system .⁶ Additionally, it is also important to note that endometrial cancer is caused by the overproduction of estrogens particularly by stromal cells found in the adipose tissue.

Health Risks Associated with Obesity

Obesity results in endocrine changes like experiencing irregular menses. Overweight causes amenorrhea and increases chances of cesarean section and infertility. On the contrary, obesity is also associated with societal and economic consequences apart from health concerns.⁸ Medical costs related to obesity may be either indirect or direct. Direct costs include treatment, diagnostic, preventive services. Nevertheless, indirect costs are associated with mortality and morbidity costs.

There are various approaches that the can be utilized to aid in the prevention and reduction of obesity in the Australian population. However, the approaches have to sufficiently involve the people because they are the ones affected by obesity. The health ministry would consider using the legislative and policy approach to champion for the formulation of relevant laws which will aim at mitigating obesity. Increased acknowledgment that obesity is a national health crisis will encourage regulatory, policy and legislative transformations.^{9, 10} The government aims to ensure that citizens are healthy. It must, therefore, initiate measures to reduce intake of sugary drinks, energy-concentrated foods and other substances that have high levels of calories. There are some of the legislative and policy approaches applicable like reducing the availability of the products in specific environments like schools. Other significant techniques are ensuring price increases or high taxes to discourage the consumption of the food substances likely to cause obesity. Another policy or legislative measure will be ordering the reduction of the sugar or calorie level in the specific foods.

Consequently, the government through the health minister would encourage people’s participation in physical activities through various ways. The government ought to incorporate important policies and legislation such as funding for parks, bike paths and safe routes to workplace or schools. Therefore, people can engage in various activities in the parks making them reduce some calories.¹¹ Safe Routes to workplaces and schools will motivate people to walk to school or work which is essential to their health. Funding for bike paths will urge people to engage in cycling activities and consequently reduce chances of being overweight. The government can restructure the education curriculum and include more time for students to partake in physical activities to improve their health.

The health ministry would ensure that there are the establishment and subsequent implementation of diverse healthcare interventions to aid socioeconomically underprivileged families to steer clear obesity. First, all obesity prevention programs offered by health institutions should be made free or subsidized to make them affordable to the socioeconomically disadvantaged people. Screening to make sure that there is early detection of medical conditions, anticipatory guidance, and consequent healthcare promotion is usually the basis of all successful preventative health-related programs.¹² It should, therefore, be a requirement that the screening of all children aged below eighteen years is made compulsory and free. Subsequent preventative counseling concerning the appropriate physical activity and diet ought to be recommended by health experts to help prevent obesity.

Approaches for Obesity Prevention and Reduction

The ministry would also ensure that there is adequate health communication and relevant marketing of the proposed obesity mitigation approaches. All techniques and strategies to steer clear obesity have to be enhanced through suitable marketing, communication and promotion. For instance, the government can sponsor television advertisements in regards to the subsided obesity prevention techniques offered by medical centers.  

The health minister ought to utilize the health nutrition approach. The minister can encourage people to adopt healthy eating routines. Additionally, this can be done through the provision of relevant advice by healthcare institutions. Austrian citizens should ensure that consume diets which have low starches and sugars. Reducing such foods lowers people’s appetite, therefore, they end up consuming fewer calories.¹³ Another benefit of minimizing carbs intake is that it reduces insulin levels making the kidneys to eliminate excess water and sodium from a person’s body. Subsequently, this lowers bloat and needless water weight. The nutrition approach will ensure that Australian citizens consume vegetables and protein, therefore, lowering weight gain. Frequent intake of proteins boosts body metabolism. Diets rich in protein also lower cravings about food.

The minister should encourage people to consider incorporating various aspects into their lives to steer clear obesity. People should have frequent physical activity sessions. Such activities include weight lifting, walking, jogging, and cycling. Other activities like stress reduction and having sufficient sleep time aid in lowering obesity. The utilization of advertisement by the health facilities sponsored by the government can aid create awareness in regards to all the proposed measures. The minister should make sure that the government subsidizes research concerning obesity as a measure to reduce it.

The government will spend a lot of resources, especially money in ensuring that all the proposals geared towards reducing obesity are put in place. The proposals may translate to increased taxation, however, the government has devised substantive methods of colleting enough revenue. Notably, some policymakers could argue that the obesity mitigation mechanisms would not help the socioeconomically disadvantaged people because they will receive free advice from health facilities, enjoy the appropriate environment created by the government to lower obesity, and get incorporated into weight reduction programs.¹⁴ Nevertheless, the health ministry would advise the government from imposing high taxes to adequately fund obesity mitigation programs, however, come up with proper and convenient mechanisms of collecting tax . The government should consider obesity as a national crisis since it is a chronic illness, therefore, implement all proposal without passing the financial burden to the ordinary citizens.

Some policymakers might perceive the usage of a lot of resources to ensure a healthy population by preventing obesity as a waste of time. Some might propose that people should have health insurance programs. However, persons who are underprivileged socioeconomically could be unable to have insurance covers. The health minister should urge the policymakers on the significance of ensuring that people are healthy. On the other hand, the provision of free obesity screening services by the government will cause overcrowding in hospitals.¹⁵ The overcrowding might make the diagnosis of other chronic illnesses difficult. The minister can advise the government to make sure that obesity mitigation services are provided in all health facilities to avoid overcrowding in specific hospitals.

It is important to acknowledge that both citizens and lawmakers might be opposed to some of the proposals recommended by the health docket. For instance, encouraging people to adopt certain meals in their diets and avoid others seems unachievable. On a similar note, urging Australian citizens to ensure they participate in physical activities may appear like it is not a serious plan and is only a wish list as opposed to a relevant action plan.¹⁶ However, it is important for everyone to eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly, avoid alcohol consumption and smoking, and practice a healthy living. Notably, the health ministry would help in eliminating such negative ideas by continuously reminding the people that any action proposed or implemented by the government aims at improving their health. Therefore, it would be important for every citizen to implement any policy recommended by the government through the health ministry since these policies are arrived at after thorough research.

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