¶ … Population Health: Childhood Obesity
Of all of the current factors impacting population health, childhood obesity may be have the greatest threat for long-term damage, as well as being the one most highly linked to culture, socioeconomic status, and personal liberties. As a result, efforts to reduce childhood obesity have been met with ambivalence and, sometimes even hostility. Part of the reason for this hostility is that the two factors that contribute greatly to childhood obesity, junk food and a lack of exercise seem ubiquitous in modern society. It can be difficult for parents to avoid junk food, and, for those parents whose children do not struggle with weight issues, it can see unduly burdensome for them to have to avoid junk food (such as not taking birthday cupcakes to elementary school children) to cater to the health problems of other people's children. Likewise, it can be difficult for some to understand why children are so inactive, but unsafe neighborhoods and working parents can make it difficult for children to get exercise outside of a school setting.
Looking at childhood obesity through the lens of an epidemiologist, it is clear that tackling childhood obesity presents several challenges. The three most important issues related to the public health initiative are: the ethics of establishing weight guidelines, legal limits on food sizes or content, and regulating parenting choices that can contribute to obesity. The obesity and overweight epidemic is evident when one looks at today's children, but visual cues...
Childhood Obesity Study The research study titled, "Parents' perceptions and attitudes on childhood obesity: AQ-methodology study" by Akhtar-Danesh et al. (2010) details the perceptions that parents have toward the cause of obesity, how much obesity affects health, and the obstacles that exist in successfully implementing an obesity prevention program for children. Due to the nature of the research experiment, the test that was used was an appropriate method to attain the
The main question revolving around childhood obesity is "When does childhood obesity become a child endangerment issue?"(Alexander, 2009) Definitions of "neglect" and "medical neglect" (parental neglect of a child's medical needs) are not universally consistent. However, there are generalised concepts and standards that are expected of parents towards their child. Failure to meet these standards may legitimately be considered neglect. Clearly not all obese children are neglected -- indeed, parents
Childhood obesity is becoming prevalent with every passing day, almost uniformly in the developed parts of the world. This problem needs to be discussed on important forums so that substantial solutions can be sort for this issue as this is creating a lot of burden on the government as well as the parents of the children who become obese. Childhood obesity is defined as a condition in which the child has
Childhood Obesity Research Obesity is defined by WHO (2011) as the excessive accumulation of fats that can cause harm to the health of an individuals. This is measured using the Body Mass Index. This is the juxtaposition of body weight for body height. Simply put dividing the weight of an individual by the Square of the Height in Meters. For instance, an adult whose BMI is between 25 and 29.9 is
Childhood Obesity/Exercise The study by Akhtar-Danesh, Dehgham, Morrison, and Fonseka (2011) was designed to address the problem of parents' perceptions of the causes of childhood obesity, barriers to prevention, and the impact of obesity on child health. As noted by the authors, childhood obesity is a growing public health concern; rates of childhood obesity more than doubled between 1980 and 2003. Statistics show that obese children are at increased risk of
Childhood Obesity in America The authorities can only address the issue of childhood obesity by educating people on the negative effects that the condition imposes, because only then can they get everyone, whether personally affected or not, aboard, and working towards a common childhood obesity-eradication goal (The U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2013). In order to do this, however, the authorities themselves ought to be at the forefront; people need to see
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