Overweight and Obesity
Table of Contents
The issue is current because it is spreading very fast and has a devastating impact on the world population. Globally, according to World Health Organization (WHO), overweight and obesity account for more than 2.8 million affected people die of the disease. It meanings that the world is really struggling to cope with the challenges caused by the epidemic. This situation is costly to different governments with limited resources. In essence, unprecedented budget used to contain the disease in different states is not sustainable based on the economic situation in various countries, thus, it calls for an immediate intervention mechanisms to minimise its effects.
Out of the global population, about 35.8 million of total world DALYs is due to the epidemic (WHO 1). Therefore, the focus should be on specific issues such as workable legal framework, extensive awareness campaigns, formation of joint ventures and alliances, and objective implementation of the available regulations, which are aimed at minimising the consequences of the medical condition before the situation gets out of hand. The figure below shows comparative findings on the prevalence of Overweight and Obesity according to World Health Organisation (WHO).
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Issuing the Paper
This briefing paper would be issued on behalf of the English Department of Health. It outlines the dangers and ways of mitigating the impacts of the epidemic. It will analyze the available regulations and policies, which have been put in place to reduce the impacts of the epidemics. It will also recommend a short and long term strategy, which would be useful in countering the epidemic. Basically, ignorance to dietary requirements and inadequate physical exercise is responsible for the increased cases of obesity in most parts of the country and globally. Adherence to healthy eating habits and creating enough time to carry out physical exercise is a precautionary measure that must be considered to make sure that the epidemic is minimized.
Expected Stakeholders
The range of stakeholders expected to take part in this implementing the mitigation process include the government under the Department of Health (DOH), World Health Organisation (WHO), Food and Beverage Manufacturers, Food Retailers, Take Away Outlets, and Fast Food Chains. It will enable all the stakeholders to monitor the content of food to make sure it does not contain high amount of salt, sugar, and fat harmful to the body. Reversing the trend will depend on the inclusive approach that the stakeholders agree to adopt. Definitely, the success of this approach will help reduce the increasing cases of overweight and obesity, thus promote healthy living especially among the world fattest countries. It shows that the issue of overweight and obesity is worrying the whole world and threatens its population. World Health Organization is therefore working with developed and developing nation to formulate workable policies that would minimise the epidemic.
Available Academic Theories
There is a range of current academic theories available on the topic of overweight and obesity, which include Food Reward Theory and Carbohydrate/Insulin Theory. These two theories will be discussed in relation to Wales in Britain. Food Reward Theory postulates that the palatability value and reward of food determine body fatness. In this respect, high amount of reward/palatability will eventually increase the amount of fat in the body, leading to overweight and obesity. Therefore, reversing the patient condition would be achieved by a drastic reduction of the amount of reward or palatability of food. On the other hand, Carbohydrate/Insulin Theory postulates that high carbohydrate, fat and sugar content in food could lead to diabetes, overweight and obesity. According to Parker, in order to lower the risk of a person contracting the epidemic, the amount of carbohydrates, sugar, and fat must be significantly reduced.
Having understood the theories, reducing the increasing cases of overweight and obesity relies on the effort that the stakeholders have to put in place. For instance, the government under the Department of Health must formulate laws to regulate the amount of carbohydrates, fats and sugar in food to reduce prevalence. Notably, the success of these policies rest with the food industries since they manufacturer food and are best placed to regulate food content. In Whales, for instance, obesity becomes more and more serious issue because there is inadequate coordination among the stakeholders. In this regard, food industries, retailers and fast food outlets do not adhere to the policies that the government has put in place. In order to prevent the obesity within the food industry, manufactures must uphold integrity and morality.
