Childhood Obesity and Obesity Essay

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Policy, Politics, and Global Health

The public policy issue selected is childhood obesity. I selected this issue because childhood obesity has a considerable longstanding impact on the health of the public as well as the cost of health care. This is becoming a more significant issue in the public realm because childhood obesity emanates from the main reason that these children grow up into obese adults who might end up suffering a great deal of health problems. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2015), childhood obesity has more than doubled and increased fourfold in adolescents in the past three decades. Statistics indicate that by 2012, more than 33% of the children and adolescents in the United States were obese or overweight. This implies that there is a need for policy intervention addressing this health hazard.

Research studies undertaken have indicated that childhood obesity is a relevant public policy issue to the health of the general public. According to Karnik and Kanekar (2012), childhood obesity is a growing issue of concern with regard to the health and welfare of the child. The cause of childhood obesity is the disparity between calorie consumption and calories that are used up. There are several factors that are causal to this public policy issue, which include genetic, environmental and behavioral factors. The pervasiveness of childhood obesity is increasing in both developed and developing nations. It is ranked as one of the major health problems indicating that incidence of childhood obesity has amplified over the years. The augmented pervasiveness of childhood obesity may have detrimental ill health and transience repercussions in the adult phase of the child. In particular, physical, psychosomatic, and social health complications are caused as a result of childhood obesity (Karnik and Kanekar, 2012).

Sahoo et al. (2015) indicate that overweight and obesity are considered to have a substantial influence on both physical and mental health. Children that are obese have a high likelihood of remaining overweight into adulthood and are more probably to develop non-communicable illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular sicknesses at an earlier age than before. Environmental aspects, preferences in the standard of living, and cultural setting play fundamental roles in the intensifying pervasiveness of obesity across the globe (Sahoo et al., 2015). The mounting issue of childhood obesity can be contained, if society takes cognizance on the causes of the illness. Out of numerous constituents that affect childhood obesity, a number of them being more fundamental in comparison others. A collective diet and physical activity intervention steered in the community that starts at the school constituent is more efficacious at avoiding obesity or overweight. What is more, if parents put into effect a healthier lifestyle at home, numerous obesity complications could be avoided (Sahoo et al., 2015).

Reducing childhood obesity is a public health concern that has significant health and economic benefits. In accordance to Global Health Institute (2014), over a lifetime, childhood obesity has a financial encumbrance of $19,000 per child when compared to those of a normal child, which is an average of $12,600. The financial impact of childhood obesity are characteristically classified as direct, for instance medical costs, and indirect, like job nonattendance. The direct costs of childhood obesity consist of yearly prescription drug, emergency room, and outpatient costs of over $14 billion for the nation, together with inpatient costs that surpass $230 million. Approximately 30% of obese children become obese adults and the projected costs of treating obesity associated illness in adults is about $150 billion (Cawley, 2010). This indicates that if successful, the policy change could bring about per capita savings (Finkelstein et al., 2014). The financial impact of this policy is that it increases the price of the products that give rise to obesity. The positive impact of this policy change is to decrease obesity amongst children and at the same time producing substantial amounts of revenue for obesity prevention activities. For instance, according to Arbor (2014), a one percent increase in tax would have produced almost $14billion in tax revenue in 2010.

My personal view is that health is an important aspect for every individual and more so for children given that they have several years ahead of them. I believe that having good health is imperative in leading a good life. This also leads to less health complications. Therefore, I believe that policies should be put into place and implemented to increase the welfare of all human beings.

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The ethical principle that underpins my perspective is that of beneficence. The ethical principles of beneficence underlines that policies or procedures ought to be provided with the main endeavor of doing good for the people involved. Addressing Childhood obesity adds to severe health problems, for instance hypertension, orthopedic complications, hormonal disparities, and adult obesity. Psychosomatic, in addition to social issues are also regular comorbid disorders to childhood obesity (Perryman and Sidoti, 2015). In this case, the policy change being considered is intended to be of great benefit to the health of all obese and overweight children to ensure that that they do not become obese adults.

Part B

Decision Maker to Receive the Brief and why it Requires Attention

The decision maker who will receive the policy brief is Tim Scott, then senator of South Carolina. The main reason why the public policy issue of childhood obesity requires the decision maker's attention is because the state has one of the highest percentages of obese children, being 21.5% and 17.7% being overweight (Ogden et al., 2014). In addition, almost 67% of adults in the state are overweight with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 or higher and 32% of these are obese with a BMI of 30 or higher (West, 2012).

Main Challenges of Addressing the Public Policy Issue

There are various challenges experienced in addressing childhood obesity as a public policy issue. One of the challenges is political challenges. In accordance to Andersen (2011), instigating policies that address obesity, for instance safeguarding children from junk food commercials and advertisements are likely to experience political challenges. This is because the United States has allowed minimal regulation on commercial speech. More so, it faces criticism and lack of support with some organizations making the argument that the proscription or regulation of such junk food advertisements is an infringement on civil liberties and does not solve the core issue (Andersen, 2011).

The other challenge is the constantly increasing time spent by children and adolescents in watching television. According to Powell (2013), television is a factor that plays a huge role in causing fattening amongst adolescents and children in America. More so, the more television they watch, the fatter they become. In the contemporary, the engagement of children with television screens, computer screens and also cellphones have risen radically. The advancement in technology continues to make this become a mounting challenge in the reduction of childhood obesity. At the present moment, children spend more than 7 hours each day watching television and it is this aspect combined with absorbed attention, exposure to publicizing and mindless eating that have become a surmounting challenge in the endeavor to decrease childhood obesity (Powell, 2013).

Primary Options and Interventions for Decision Maker

There are various primary options and interventions for the decision maker. One option is implementing excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. In particular, the option would take into account a per ounce excise tax for sugar-sweetened beverages and purchases. This increase in taxation is purposed to decrease the consumption level of sugar-sweetened beverages amongst children and adolescents. The tax increase will lead to the price increase in sugar-sweetened beverages. Therefore, children and adolescents will have to substitute these beverages with other beverages with lesser or zero calories. This will improve their nutritional content and thus improve their health and wellbeing going into the future (Kristensen et al., 2014). In accordance to research undertaken by Kristensen et al. (2014), an excise tax of 1 cent for every ounce on sugar-sweetened beverages is projected to reduce obesity by 1.6%age points on children between 6 and 12 years old. The same would give rise to a 2.4%age decline in childhood obesity amongst children between the ages of 13 and 18 years in the next 15 years. In a similar manner, putting into place such excise tax on all on all SSBs could diminish childhood obesity pervasiveness by 2.9%age points.

A second option is the implementation of a ban or proscription on television advertising for fast food products that targets children and adolescents. In particular, this would take into account restriction of advertising for fast food with the main purpose of limiting and diminishing the level of consumption of foods and beverages that high calories and low nutrient levels by children and adolescents. However, a key aspect to take into consideration in this policy is whether such proscription will.....

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