Case Study: Childhood Obesity

Childhood Obesity Case Study

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Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval: Childhood Obesity

Obesity is one of the major public health issues that affect many societies today. Reducing the prevalence of obesity is one of the objectives of America’s Healthy people 2020 initiative as this has been determined to be a significant cause of many health issues in the society. While obesity affects all demographics, there has been a significant increase in the prevalence of this public health issue among children. Many children are emerging with Body Mass Index (BMI) that are above the 95th percentile, which is an indication of a higher risk of many lifestyle-related illnesses (Hoelscher et al., 2015). Children are part of the vulnerable members of the population; hence, a lot of strategies need to be put in place to ensure that they are protected from public health issues by their guardians and other people responsible in their lives. This project aims at evaluating the problem of childhood obesity in America, its extent, impact, and possible solution.

Childhood Obesity in America

The rate of childhood obesity has increased significantly during the past few decades. America has one of the highest rates of childhood obesity in the world, a figure that has tripled over the past three decades (Karnik & Kanekar, 2012). One out of every six children in the United States is obese while one out of every three is overweight. The rate of overall obesity in children has been steady since 2008, but there have been significant changes within different demographic groups. Some groups have a higher rate compared to others. Among socio-economic groups, the high income earning groups including families living 400% above the poverty level have the lowest rate of childhood obesity with 11.9% (Ogden et al., 2012). The groups living under the poverty rate has the highest rate of 21%. In terms of racial/ethnic characteristics, the Asian, non-Hispanic population has the lowest rate of obesity with a 9.8% rate (Ogden et al., 2012). Hispanics have the highest rate at 23.6% followed by the blacks at 20.7% and whites at 14.7% (Ogden et al., 2012). Although at different rates, all population groups in the U.S. have a significantly high risk of childhood obesity, which makes this a major public health issue in the country.