Essay on Public Health Intervention on Obesity

Obesity is widely regarded as one of the most severe dangers to public health today. Obesity intervention methods currently in use are unsuccessful. To combat the scope of the obesity pandemic, cross-sectorial and multilevel initiatives are required. Obesogenic environmental circumstances mix with genetic, biochemical, and social factors to encourage inactivity, poor eating habits and, as a result, causes widespread weight gain. Obesity is problematic since it’s linked to mental health issues and a lower quality of life (World Health Organization, 2020). Obesity is linked to the significant causes of mortality in the United States and worldwide, such as stroke, diabetes, heart disease, and certain forms of cancer. It is essential to initiate public health interventions using the ecological model of health to mitigate the growing obesity epidemic in the community.

Community factors

The influence of communal influences on a person’s lifestyle habits is significant. Most of the social norms of a community are what contribute to the growth of obesity. Your surroundings have a direct impact on your health. Sedentary behavior has become increasingly prevalent in today’s culture. Driving vehicles has supplanted walking, technology has supplanted physical exercise, and convenience foods have supplanted nutrition. As a result of these changes, it is simple to engage in unhealthy behaviors such as bad diet choices and lack of physical activity (Baranowski et al., 2019). The overall result is that we consume more calories while utilizing fewer, and our bodies store the extra calories as fat. Individuals should employ community programs that deal with obesity as a public health problem. As changing the social norms of a community is quite challenging, the community government can employ interventions such as running programs where members of the community engage in physical exercises daily to mitigate obesity and reduce its rise. Members of the community can further be educated on healthier lifestyles that can help them maintain a healthy weight and reduce weight gain.

Interpersonal factors

Individuals’ weight is impacted by their social setting, including family and home life, social media and resources, and social standards at the interpersonal level. Dining out, eating as a group activity, and leisure eating are all societal conventions that influence individual food intake (Lindsey, 2015). Numerous studies indicate that when individuals dine in groups, they intake more calories. Individuals need to adopt healthier lifestyles as their current lifestyles of dining out and eating foods high in calories are the significant influences that cause weight gain. Health experts indicate that individuals should consume homemade food rather than fast foods from restaurants to maintain healthier habits. While cooking, they are in charge of controlling the calories they intake. Individuals are advised to intake more fruits and vegetables in their meals to improve healthier standards.

Organizational factors

Organizational structures and practices can have a good or negative impact on a person’s weight. Food intake can be influenced by the availability of specific meals at a school, workplace, or health care facility (King & Gonzalez, 2018). Vending machines containing high-calorie drinks, along with high-fat and high-calorie-content meals, may have a detrimental impact on a person’s weight. Such habits have an adverse effect on individual’s health as it causes weight gain. Schools, together with others organizations, need to mitigate such behaviors and employ healthier foods for students. Instead of having vending machines with high-calorie foods and beverages, they can replace them with more nutritious snacks and drinks low in calories. Educational institutes can further employ measures such as educating students on consuming healthy foods to reduce weight gain (Liu et al., 2019).

Individual factors

The environment both shapes and is influenced by individual health habits. Gender, age, food consumption, and physical activity levels are all possible causes for weight increase at the individual level (Lindsey, 2015). Dietary intake decisions can be influenced by personal qualities that impact behavior, including knowledge, views, beliefs, and personality factors. Individuals need to adapt to better and healthier behaviors such as frequent exercising and efficient nutrition intake. Engaging in activities such as cardio exercises or gym exercises are essential physical activities that reduce weight and maintain a healthy weight.

Public policy factor

State, local, international, and national laws that governor promote illness preventive activities and practices, such as early identification, control, and care, are included at this level. Policies that offer clear and intelligible nutritional information and mandating restaurants to provide correct estimations of the number of calories in their dishes are examples of government action interventions. Such public health interventions are essential as they help individuals to regulate the number of calories they consume.

Reference

Baranowski, T., Motil, K. J., & Moreno, J. P. (2019). Public health procedures, alone, will not prevent child Obesity. Childhood Obesity, 15(6), 359-362.

King, K. M., & Gonzalez, G. B. (2018). Increasing physical activity using an ecological model. ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal, 22(4), 29-32.

Lindsey Haynes-Maslow. (April 29, 2015). The Causes and Complexity of Obesity. Retrieved From https://blog.ucsusa.org/lindsey-haynes-maslow/the-causes-and-complexity-of-obesity-718/#:~:text=At%20the%20interpersonal%20level%2C%20individuals,social%20activity%2C%

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Liu, Z., Xu, H. M., Wen, L. M., Peng, Y. Z., Lin, L. Z., Zhou, S., … & Wang, H. J. (2019). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the overall effects of school-based obesity prevention interventions and effect differences by intervention components. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 16(1), 1-12.

World Health Organization. (2020). Overweight and obesity.