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Obesity Prevention Advocacy Campaigns Essay

The emergence of different health conditions that affect human beings explains why the issue of advocacy has been taken to the next level. This practice is embraced by different stakeholders and community members to take a position and initiate powerful strategies to influence every policy choice made in public and private sectors. One of the health concerns affecting mankind today is obesity. This paper examines a number of advocacy approaches implemented to deal with this predicament.Obesity Prevention Advocacy Campaigns Essay

Population Health Issue

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 11 percent of all men in the world are obese (Haynes, Hughes, & Reidlinger, 2017). The percentage for women is 15. People aged above 18 years appear to be affected the most by this health issue. In 2016, it was estimated that over 650 million people above the age of 18 were obese (Haynes et al., 2017). Statistics also reveal that the number of obese persons has tripled from 1976 to 2017. Obesity has been linked to numerous health problems such as cancer and diabetes.

Advocacy Campaigns

Several initiatives have been made by different stakeholders across the globe to propose policies that can be used to deal with obesity. The article “A Narrative Review of Public Health Policies for Childhood Obesity Prevention in the United States” by Amar Kanekar and Sameera Karnik indicates that different players in the healthcare sector have been involved in various campaigns to ensure that the problem of childhood obesity is addressed before it gets out of hand. Such initiatives have been undertaken by legislative policymakers and health practitioners. These stakeholders have collaborated to raise awareness, guide community members, and involve school administrators to support policy solutions that have the potential to change the current obesity trend (Karnik & Kanekar, 2014). This approach has been undertaken at the grassroots level to sustain population-based approaches.Obesity Prevention Advocacy Campaigns Essay

The article “Obesity Prevention Advocacy in Australia: An Analysis of Policy Impact on Autonomy” by Emily Haynes, Dianne P. Reidlinger, and Roger Hughes examines how the government of Australia has been keen to focus on policies that can deal with this health problem. The move has been pursued after a taskforce was formed to examine the challenges and issues associated with the condition. This led to the establishment of the Australian Government Inquiry on Obesity in the year 2008 (Haynes et al., 2017). The purpose of this taskforce was to explore the perceptions of different individuals and inform the decisions made by policymakers in the country.

Several attributes can be described that made these two advocacy approaches effective. The first one succeeded because the agenda was pursued by different stakeholders at the community level (or a bottom-up approach). This means that health practitioners liaised with legislators to support the implementation of new actions, initiatives, and policies that could address this problem. They also sensitized school leaders, parents, and community members about this epidemic. These aspects made the advocacy approach successful. The second case can be described as a good example of a top-down model (Haynes et al., 2017). The approach was effective because a group of experts identified the existing needs and challenges facing different people. These specialists informed policymakers about the emerging issues and spearheaded new efforts to improve the nature of services and educational campaigns available in Australia.Obesity Prevention Advocacy Campaigns Essay

Public Health Issue and Proposed Solution

The proposed campaign seeks to sensitize and inform policymakers at the community level about the problem of obesity. The intended solution is to compel the government to offer adequate resources and education to more people in order to deal with this health concern (Karnik & Kanekar, 2014). Studies have indicated that many citizens lack adequate playing grounds, information, and ideas to manage this condition. Additionally, the policy can be expanded to introduce obesity-related instruction in learning institutions.Obesity Prevention Advocacy Campaigns Essay