Prevalence of Obesity in Australia

In present time, Obesity has become the biggest heath concern all around the world, this is the reason the topic ‘obesity’ is been selected for this report.  The problem of obesity among adolescent and children is rising at a high rate and due to the obesity, the population is suffering from various health problems like musculoskeletal condition, cancer, mental health conditions, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. This report is designed to comprehend the importance of policy development in public health policy issues.  To spread awareness and to control the risk of health problems associated with the obesity some advocacy strategy is been developed in this report.  This report contains the cause and issues related to the obesity, solution and various measures to control the obesity among people of Australia through advocacy campaign.

Obesity or Overweight means unnecessary or abnormal weight accumulation in the human body, which increase health risks (Britannica, 2018).  It normally arises due to continued energy unevenness when energy consumption through drinking and eating surpasses energy expended through physical movement.  Being obese or overweight increase the risk of chronic diseases such as mental health conditions, musculoskeletal condition, cancer, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes which include heart disease and stroke (Fontaine & Barofsky, 2010). As the weight increase in the human body, the risk of sudden death also increases (Graham, 2018).   

Australia is one of the fattest nations in the world where out of three people two are obese or overweight. It is the fifth most obese and overweight nation among all OECD countries (Britannica, 2018). In 2014-2015, more than 11.2 million adults that are 63% were overweight or obese, out of 63% 6.3 million (35%) are overweight and 4.9 million (28%) were obese. Out of four children, one was overweight or obese, 1.2 million children that are 26% are having 25 or higher BMI (AIHW, 2018). Obesity and overweight are greater among Australian men (71%) than Australian women (56%). Adults living in the lowest socioeconomic area were likely to be more obese or overweight than those in the highest socioeconomic areas. In Australia, obesity and overweight are more common among indigenous adults. Between 1995 and 2014-2015, the proportion of obese or overweight adults increased from 56% to 63% and the average weight increased by 4.4 kg for both women and men. As per survey conducted in 2012-13, 66% of indigenous Australians aged 15 years are obese or overweight. Obesity is higher in inner regional areas that are 40% and lower in remote areas that is 32% (ABS, 2013).

Factors Contributing to Obesity

The main factors, which are causing the obesity and overweight, are inadequate physical activity and poor diet. It is not necessary that food and drink provide all the required nutrients to the human body, food and drinks may be high in fat, sugar, salt, and alcohol, which may lead to an unhealthy body (Offer, Pechey & Ulijaszek, 2010).

Genetic is a strong component behind Obesity. From various researches it is been conclude that children of fat parents are more likely to become fat in comparison to lean parents children. The genes of parents are the main reason behind the health issues in their children. However, the chances of getting obsessed due to genes are less sometimes, there are some other reasons behind the obesity in children.  

Heavily processed and junk foods are the main reason behind the obesity in the people. The junk and processed food items are available at very cheap rates and they taste very good it is hard to resist. The companies try to make these food products as tasty as they can to increase the sale and with a taste they are promoting overeating (Fitzgibbon, et.al. 2014). These kinds of food are highly engineered products, and designed to get people hooked (Fitzgibbon, et.al. 2014).

Food Addiction is also a reason behind the obesity, Junk food can cause addiction in the susceptible individuals. The people who get addicted to this kind of food lose their control over their eating behavior, similar to people struggling with drugs addition lose their control over their behavior.  Many sugar-sweetened, high-fat junk foods place their taste into the human mind. The junk food and processed food items are often compared to commonly abused drugs like nicotine, cocaine, and alcohol (Fontaine & Barofsky, 2010).

All the junk food companies place their product in the market very aggressively. The companies play very unethically by introducing their unhealthy products as a healthy product in the market, people believe on their false advertisements and intake the food item by considering it as a healthy product, and afterward their body suffers harmed by the product (Fontaine & Barofsky, 2010).   The companies also make misleading claims and the worst part of these products is that they mainly target children. Moreover, due to that the obesity among children is increasing and they are getting addictive toward junk food and due to that, they are facing many health problems (BOND, 2018).

Health Problems Associated with Obesity

There are many pharmaceutical drugs available in the market, which can cause weight gain as a side effect. Antidepressants have been linked to modest weight gain, diabetes medicines and antipsychotics cause weight gain. These medicines alter the function of the human body and brain, increase appetite and reduce metabolic rate (Kadomatsu, Tabata, & Oike, 2011).    

The availability of junk food everywhere is the biggest cause behind the obesity. The junk food is always in the display in the shop and they are mostly at likable places, which gain the attention of people very easily. Besides the availability the other problem is the prices of the junk food, junk food is very cheap in comparison to the healthy food items. Poor people do not have enough money to buy healthy food like vegetables and fruits they left with one option that buys cheap junk food to get rid of their hunger.

The additional fat in the human body requires an additional amount of nutrition and extra amount of oxygen to survive, which put pressure on the blood vessels to circulate more blood in the human body due to fat tissues. This process will increase the pressure on the heart, for survival of body the heart needs to produce more blood through blood vessels. More circulation means more pressure on the heart, which leads to the high blood pressure problem in the human body (NIDDK, 2018).

Behind the type 2 diabetes, the main reason is obesity. In past, this type of diabetes was found in adults only but in present due to obesity type 2 diabetes ocurres in childern also.  The people who suffer from type 2 diabetes are required to take insulin to control the level of sugar in the body. The insulin increse the problem of obesity in human body.

The occurrence of atherosclerosis in obese people is 10 times more in comparison to non-obese people. Coronary artery disease is more common among the obese people because the fatty deposit builds up in arteries, which narrow the arteries. The narrow arteries and reduced blood flow can cause chest pain or a heart attack. Blood clots can also form in narrowed arteries and cause a stroke (Hall, 2018).

Obesity can also affect the hips and knees because the extra weight placed the stress the joints. The Dr suggests joint replacement surgery to treat problem of joints but this treatment is not suitable for obese or overweight people, because the heavy body would not support the treatment.

Discrimination and Overweight

Overweight contributes and increases the risk of cancers including colon cancer, gallbladder cancer, breast cancer, and uterus among women and among overweight men, the risk of colon cancer and prostate cancers increases (Hall, 2018).   

The overweight or obese people mainly face problem of discrimination. The children who were overweight face problem discrimination at various activities in schools. The adult who are obese or overweight face problem of discrimination at work place. The confidence level among overweight or obese people are become very low because as all other people who are fit are bully them.

In the culture, the ideal definition of best physical condition is an excessively thin body people who are fat suffer number of disadvantages. Obese and overweight people are blamed for their conditions and may be considered weak or lazy. The obese people face discrimination at the workplace, among family and friends (Ross, Flynn & Pate, 2016).

There is no single solution to obesity, the problem is complex and the solution is equally complex. There are a few solutions, which are given by some experts these are as follows:

• The government should impose an additional tax or fat tax on those foods and drinks, which containing an extra percentage of fat.
• The government needs to amend the law and stop the advertisement, which is showing fatty food as the status symbol.
• The law needs to be stricter regarding selling highly fatty food to minors.
• The government and other social groups should start campaigns stating the dangerous effects of obesity.  
• The government and other social agencies will assist the people who want to reduce weight.
• In schools, the management should include physical activities besides studies to keep children fit and healthy.
• In school and colleges, the management needs to make children aware of the side effects of the obesity.
• The government and social agencies should encourage the population of Australia to reduce the intake of junk and unhealthy foods and drinks.
• The government and social agencies need to develop campaigns involving physical activities (Kramer, et.al. 2017).

• Consider obesity and overweight as a countrywide priority
• Australia needs to form a task force to increase efforts and to provide capacity to organise and drive program to manage and prevent obesity and to develop targets monitor them and provide report regarding their achievement
• To develop implement and evaluate a synchronized weight plan, centred on the best obtainable evidence, comprising where relevant the anticipatory health taskforce approvals to manage and prevent obesity
• Ensure the synchronized engagement of relevant industries, non-government organization, local government, and recreation and sport groups to safeguard the action on obesity are high on their agenda (Public Health Association, 2018).

The problem of obesity has become too large in the Australian community; it has become hard for one organization or single agency to tackle the problem. To handle the condition of the obese people it is important to put together a coalition of groups and individuals. The group and individuals are strong enough for designing operative strategies for altering the policies and programs in business, schools, government and other relevant sectors (Lake, Henderson & Townshend, 2018).

Building a Coalition and Gaining Support from Stakeholders  

Issue identification and specification- to build the coalition among stakeholder the first step that is needed is identifying and specification of an issue for which it is going to form. Here the issue is obesity among the population of Australia, and to resolve the issue it is important to build a coalition (Cooper, Bumbarger & Moore, 2015).

Relationship/Stakeholder mapping- during developing coalition, in this step an expert will search the stakeholders who are interested in joining the coalition. The people who will join the coalition on the issue of obesity will be the policy makers, researchers, government bodies, non-government bodies.  They will join the coalition to motivate people to reduce weight. The trainers or instructors can also be a part of a coalition (Bowen, 2015).

Forming core membership- once the stakeholders are mapped it becomes the responsibility of expert to form a core membership by selecting suitable members for the coalition. The leaders will choose core members on the bases of their self-awareness of the benefits of change.

Solutions to the Problem of Obesity

Demonstrating Credibility- after reaching this point the coalition demonstrates its knowledge about the relevancy of issues, effectiveness, and worth of support from stakeholders. Here coalition develops to control health-related issue related to obesity and for this, the stakeholders will show their knowledge, effectiveness, efficiency, and support.

Purposeful Expansion- when the coalition is developed and start working effectively, the leaders or expert will thing of expanding their small organisation into a broader social and resources base. This is the point where leaders or experts need to think big to achieve new success (Baker, et.al. 2018).

There are many organizations working to support various community-based platforms to address and help to solve the problem of obesity. The approaches causal these platforms include healthy food available at more places and educating consumers appealing about the food ingredients and eating support plans that bring grocery stores into food deserts, providing places for physical activities and growing community transportation (Sacks & Robinson, 2018).  

The community-based efforts are designed to be flexible enough to address the needs of local areas. These are developed for matching local areas priorities and leveraging existing resources. Community-based efforts are the most fruitful approaches that will bring crucial assets and partners together and take a inclusive approach to maximize influence. The multi-sector associations can include community groups, healthcare providers, and public health agencies, all of which have different expertise and an entrusted interest for enlightening the vitality and health of a community (Warner, Xu, & Morken, 2017).  While working together as a community, the cross-sector associations can be helpful to address the important issues, such as income, transportation, quality education, safe places to be physically active, the availability of reasonable healthy food, and other health conditions in neighborhoods (Lacy, et.al. 2018). These are the variety of additional sources, which can help in providing resources and investment for obesity-prevention efforts along with local, state and federal grants.

Mass media campaigns are widely used to explore the large populations to messages through routine uses of present media, such as newspaper, radio, and television. Over the past few decades, the use of media is increased to spread awareness among people. Typical campaigns have positioned messages in media that will influence a large audience, most often via radio or television. There are few outdoor media like posters, billboards, and newspapers available, which help people to have insight on the issue more clearly. Some campaigns incorporate new technologies, but receivers have so far generally been mandatory to choose to seek information (Williams, et.al. 2015).   

Advocacy Strategies

Media campaigns related to obesity can be of short period or may spread over a long period and the campaign should relate to the organization programme components. Media is a very useful way to spread information in minimum time to the mass audience. The population of Australia spends approximately 8 hours watching television (Britannica, 2018). Mass media campaigns can work through indirect and direct paths to change the behavior of the whole population.

The organizations, which are working in reducing obesity in Australia, can use media to promote obesity reduction campaign. With the help of the media, they can spread awareness about the health-related problems associated with obesity and how can they reduce the chances of getting those health problems.    

The one ethical issue related to obesity is discrimination of the overweight people. They face the problem of discrimination in every field. To eliminate the discrimination the government and other coalition need to take a step. For addressing, the issue of discrimination three frameworks has been designed by the experts. The first step involves making of list of ethical issues, which need a deep discussion to avoid obesity and overweight. The inventory is discussed among the experts, researchers, healthcare professionals, and policymakers. The current policies or programmes to avoid obesity or overweight may comprise eight possibly challenging aspects. The second step consists of a study related to an ethical framework that will address the areas of public health and that might be used to assess overweight inhibition programs (Azevedo & Vartanian, 2015).  The experts will assess the area on which the accessible moral frameworks emphasis on the objective and on the policy and program that are proposed to address the issue of obesity. Further, they look at the structure, content, and tools for guiding the analytic process, those main ethical principles or values, possible criteria for dealing with ethical conflicts and the concrete policy issues that are applied (Cooper, Bumbarger & Moore, 2015). Sustaining finally on the bases of two steps, the expert will design an moral framework for the inhibition of obesity and overweight set up practical approvals.

To assess the effectiveness of the advocacy campaign there are a few indicators discussed here:

Activity/Tactic measures- Tactic measure is commonly known as the measure of efforts. This will count that how many campaigning activities or tactics are produced or accomplished. Tactic measures just seizure what was done and do explain how well it worked with the target audience. The advocacy campaign, which has been designed to address the health issue related to obesity, will be measured by the activity/tactic measure. In this measure the experts will evaluate all functions and activities related to the campaign, than the they will compare the evaluated activities with the benchmarks set by them earlier.      The main criteria for a campaign to reach the target audience and expert will measure the reach of the campaign (Cooper, Bumbarger & Moore, 2015).

Building a Coalition and Gaining Support from Stakeholders

Output/Outcomes measures- it is linked to the outcomes and outputs of the advocacy campaign to measure the signal progress towards achieving the aim of the campaign (Kirlappos & Sasse, 2012). This will measure the effects and demonstrate the changes because of campaigning efforts. This will help the expert in measuring the outcomes, which will arrive when the campaign will come into force. This measure will help the expert in knowing the progress of the campaign, is the campaign working in the same way as it was designed in the beginning or there some changes are taken place (Kirlappos & Sasse, 2012).    

Impact of measure- this will establish what will happen after a campaign aim is attained. It will show the effects of a campaign aim for the system, programmes, or people seeking to improve. When the aim of the campaign is to achieve through impact measure the expert will analyze the working of the completed project. The campaign is designed to spread awareness among the people of Australia about obesity and its impact on their health. When the campaign that has been designed is completed and has achieved its aim this measure will evaluate the status of the system, programmes and the people associated with it (Cooper, Bumbarger & Moore, 2015).

Conclusion

To conclude, the problem of obesity is become a huge issue all around the world, in Australia also the obesity has become a huge issue. Out of five people, three are obese in Australia. The main reason behind the obesity in Australia are eating habits, Genetic issues, less physical activities, side effects of medicines and many more. To control the obesity in Australia, the government and many non-government organisations have conducted various activities and created some coalition. These coalition and activities are developed to spread awareness among people of Australia the side effects of obesity and to let them know measures with the help of which they can control their weight. In this, report some advocacy various advocacy strategies have been discussed with the help of which the government can develop a coalition and get support of stakeholders. Government and non-government experts with the help of Advocacy strategies can manage and evaluate the functions and working of coalitions and other organisation who are working to control obesity in Australia.    

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