Final Report

Future directions & strategies

Weltee Wolo

Rasmussen College

Author Note

This paper is being submitted on November 29, 2017 Nichole Crais’s

Epidemiology H430/HSC4500 course

Epidemiology research

Obesity is currently among the diseases on the rise in the United States. Obesity has currently become a serious problem in America because according to statistics nearly 35% of Americans have obesity which increases the risk of developing chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes to mention a few (Ng, et al., 2014). The disease is mostly caused by lifestyle choices such as overeating; physical inactivity that make the topic more interesting to study.

To prevent and control the disease researchers and healthcare workers have advocated for various approaches in the recent years. These strategies targets factors contributing to obesity, environmental and socioeconomic levels and involvement of various levels stakeholders to mitigate the problem. In order to change the physical activity environment and encourage a higher level of physical activities, a wide range of policies has been implemented. Various agencies involved in food policies have put stringent measures restricting marketing as well as advertisement of unhealthy foods. To increase physical activities researchers have advocated for better school design having a large school grounds among others. The public doesn’t know about the causes of obesity. For instance, three in four people aren’t aware that the disease is chronic. Therefore to create awareness healthcare sectors in association with necessary agencies are engaged in campaigns to educate the public on the basic ways of preventing obesity. In healthcare sectors, various policies have been adopted to address obesity. For example, increasing the number of dietitians and nutritionist in hospitals

Obesity is preventable (Kumanyika et al., 2002). Therefore such measures as adopting universal health prevention can assist in reducing the rising obesity prevalence. This approach is based on the rationale of targeting an entire community or population in spite of their current level of risk. The essence is to reduce new cases of obesity and eventually, to prevent the rise this disease. On the other hand, incorporating prevention into management is another way of reducing the rapid prevalence of obesity. The issue of the reluctance of the medical profession has been ascribed to a confusion of the relationship between two critical elements (weight and health). In this case, professionals should prevent the prevalence of obesity in order to avoid workload within the healthcare system.

The following research sources have relevant information relevant related to obesity;

I. Association, A. H. (Updated Occt 18,2016). Obesity Information. Retrieved from www.heart.org/HEARTORG/.../Obesity/Obesity-Information_UCM_307908_Article.j .

II. World Health Organization. (2017). Obesity and overweight. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/

III. American Cancer Society. (2017). Excess body weight: A major health issue in America. Retrieved from https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/diet-physical-activity/body-weight-and-cancer-risk/health-issues.html

References

Ng, M., Fleming, T., Robinson, M., Thomson, B., Graetz, N., Margono, C., ... & Abraham, J. P. (2014). Global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980–2013: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. The lancet, 384(9945), 766-781.

Kumanyika, S., Jeffery, R. W., Morabia, A., Ritenbaugh, C., & Antipatis, V. J. (2002). Obesity prevention: the case for action. International journal of obesity, 26(3), 425.