Many people have suggested reasons that obesity remains prevalent in Salford, UK. The low level of adult physical activity is believed to be the primary cause, but it is important to recognize that childhood obesity is also a factor in Salford. In addition, one must compare other health measures in Salford to the rest of the UK to get a full picture. In general, Salford is simply less healthy than the English average, with higher rates of adult smoking, smoking-related deaths, alcohol-related hospital stays, mental health conditions, dementia, and learning disabilities. This seems to be directly linked to issues with addressing health related behavior on a community-wide level.
Understanding the social prescribing solution to treat obesity means first undersanding what a social prescribing solution is. With social prescriptions, general practitioners are challenged to go beyond what we generally think of as the practice as medicine and consider other factors and other solutions when treating a patient’s health if that health condition is rooted in or linked to socioeconomic or other cultural factors. In Salford, there is a culture of obesity that deals with factors like a lack of adult physical activity and a culture where nutritious foods that are appropriate to support weight loss goals may be difficult to obtain. Food and physical activity both play roles in socialization and it is important to recognize that the ability to get out and be active in a place like Salford differs from that ability in other locations. It is important for a doctor not to ignore the obesity issue, but also not to try to solve it with short-term medical fixes like diet pills or even diet programs. Instead, sustainable lifestyle changes, tailored to life in Salford, are important. The city