The degree of over-weightiness and obesity in the U.S. will create an economic and social crisis.
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pptsocialeconmic.pptxThe social and economic crisis debate
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Introduction
The degree of overweightness and obesity in the U.S. will create an economic and social crisis.
Over the past decade, the prevalence of obesity in the United States of America has doubled. More than a third (34.9%) of American adults is suffering from obesity (Flegal,et.al,2010).
high incidence of chronic illnesses associated with obesity
obesity is associated with many chronic illnesses. These include diabetes, hypertension, stroke, a certain type of cancer, asthma and arthritis .
According to research it is estimated that around 60% of the diabetic cases that exist are due to weight gain, while around 80% of all the heart conditions are associated with obesity.
. More than 50% chances are that these adults will be affected by the chronic diseases arising from obesity. This comes with numerous costs to manage and treat the people affected by these chronic diseases, resulting from obesity (Bhattacharya et.al, 2011).
medical costs associated with the high incidence of obesity related diseases,
More than 50% chances are that these adults will be affected by the chronic diseases arising from obesity. This comes with numerous costs to manage and treat the people affected by these chronic diseases, resulting from obesity
Decline in individual social economic status
once an individual suffers from a chronic illness such as hypertension or diabetes, they tend to divert their priorities.
Rather than focusing on what can lead to a better social and economic development, they tend to focus more on managing the disease and their condition. Most of the family incomes and savings are diverted to pay hospital bills and buy medications for the patient.
decreased national productivity
Productivity reduced due to :absenteeism at work, disabilities, presentism, pre-mature deaths, spending money on company insuarances.
most of these people will be spending most of their time in hospital trying to manage the conditions that they are already suffering from
Others may end up suffering disabilities due to the diseases. For instance individuals may end up getting a stroke and therefore not able to be as productive as they were initially prior to getting such disabilities.
Worse still, some may even end up dying prematurely, even before they reach their retirement ag
population decrease
it is a major cause of infertility especially amongst women. Obesity interferes with the hormonal production in women and causes the production of testosterone which contributes o infertility in women.
On the other obesity leads to life threating diseases, and high mortalities amongst individuals suffering from chronic diseases. For instance diabetes and stroke lead to many deaths due to complications arising from these diseases
where there is mortality without reproduction there is a population decline hence reduced productivity .
Government expenses
it incurs direct cost as the government try to manage the condition. For instance, the amount of money estimated to be spending annually on the medical cost of obesity in America is approximately $147 billion.
Moreover, the American government has promised to subsidies the cost of healthy foods in order to make it affordable in the society and reduce obesity. This means that the government has to reduce the taxes on such products and the Levi on the equipment used to produce the food products. This means that the government will not be making any economic profits from farming which is a key sector within the continent. This affects the economy in a negative way directly.
increased transport cost and human capital accumulation
Increase in body weight amongst Americans may lead to the demand for bigger vehicles to accommodate the transport the same number of people who could be transported in smaller vehicles within a year
According to Dannenberg (2004), between the year 1990 and the year 2000, there was a notable increase in the amount of money spent on fuel used by airline passengers, due to an increase in the prevalence in obesity. In the year 2000 alone, approximately $275 million extra money was spent on airlines due to the increase in obese passengers
The human capital accumulation
Obesity slows the learning ability of a student. According to Sabia (2007), there is a directly inverse relationship between obesity and the ability to learn/ acquire knowledge.
Obese students tend to have a low self-esteem and hence the inability to learn quickly. This means that these individuals become even less productive in the society in the latter life, due to their lagging thinking.
Most develop antisocial behaviours.
Reference
Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Ogden CL, et al. Prevalence and trends in US obesity among adults, 1999–2008. JAMA. 2010;303(3):235–241.
Mokdad AH, Ford ES, Bowman BA, et al. Prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and obesity-related health risk factors. JAMA. 2011;289(1):76–79.
Bhattacharya B, Bundorf MK. The incidence of the healthcare costs of obesity. J Health Econ. 2009;28(3):649–658.
Gortmaker SL, Must A, Perrin JM, Sobol AM, Dietz W. Social and economic consequences of overweight in adolescence and young adult-hood. N Eng J Med. 1993;329(14):1008–1012.
Dannenberg A, Burton D, Jackson R. Economic and environmental costs of obesity: the impact on airlines. Am J Prevent Med. 2004;27(3):264
Sabia JJ. The effect of body weight on adolescent academic performance. Southern Econ J. 2007;73(4):871–900.
