Childhood Obesity and its Impact on the Health and Wellbeing of Children in the United Kingdom: Health and Social Care Dissertation, UOG, UK

OMED 1345: Theory, Evidence and Practice in Public Health and Wellbeing Dissertation

title: Childhood obesity and its impact on the health and wellbeing of children in the United Kingdom.

Abstract

The UK is facing a challenge with childhood obesity. According to National Child Management Programme (NCMP), a third of children age between 2 to 5 are obese (Childhood Obesity, 2020). Obese children are more likely to stay obese in adulthood. Obesity not only cost £5.1 billion but also affect the health and wellbeing of the public. Childhood obesity is a complex matter that is caused by many different factors such as income status, poor diet, physical activity level, lifestyle, and genetic condition.

This research focused on how childhood obesity affects the health and wellbeing of children who were classified as obese and what are the available interventions to tackle the childhood obesity issue in the UK. According to a medical report by Dr Nagi Giumma Barakat, obesity is the major cause of type 2 diabetes, asthma, heart disease, stroke, and various types of cancer. The obesity-related disease cost NHS more than £5.1 billion each year. Childhood obesity is also linked closely to a variety of psychological disorders such as anxiety, low self-esteem, and depression.

The study by Y Latzer found that obese children tend to have lower performance at school in terms of academic achievement due to psychological distress (Latzer, Y., Stein, D. A, 2013). There have been many interventions to encourage healthy eating and physical activities at school settings. however, school programmes alone had no significant effect on preventing childhood obesity.

There is stigma around childhood obesity to put all the responsibilities on parents or schools. It can be seen as individual problems. However, it is becoming serious social issue not only individuals but as a nation. The UK government came up with long term 10-year plan to reduce childhood obesity. These include a soft drinks industry levy across the nation, healthy eating and physical activity rating scheme for primary schools, and traffic light labelling in front of food packages to raise awareness in healthy eating and to help families to make healthier choices when buying food.

The Government is also launching a new champaign, NHS 12-week weight loss plan app. This campaign involves sufficient training healthcare professionals to give adequate advice and raise health awareness of children in the UK. Childhood obesity can be a life-long battle, so it is too soon to measure the effectiveness between new interventions and childhood obesity rates.

The government must address the core issue of deprivation other than School breakfast clubs targeting families in deprived areas. The core issue is not only about healthy foods and physical activities but also the environment that people live in. therefore, educational, economic, and social sectors must work together with political sectors to reduce the gap in socio-economic inequality to address childhood obesity.

1. Introduction and Background

It is reported that the UK is facing a challenge with childhood obesity. According to National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP), a third of children age between 2 to 15 are obese (Childhood Obesity, 2020). Obese children are more likely to stay obese in adulthood. Obesity not only costs NHS £5.1 billion but also affect the health and wellbeing of the public. Obesity is a great risk factor for developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and depression.

There are many existing policies to tackle childhood obesity such as the soft drink levy to reduce sugar intake in a soft drink restriction and a food advertising ban on mass media. However, there are many challenges that come with it.

Childhood obesity is a complex matter that is caused by many different factors such as income status, poor diet, physical activity level, lifestyle, and genetic condition (Obesity in children | Health Information | Bupa UK, 2020).

The Transtheoretical model by Prochaska in the 1970s describes that there are six stages of human behaviour changes to adopt a healthy lifestyle, which is Precontemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, Maintenance, and Termination (The Transtheoretical Model (Stages of Change), 2020). This model points out that people do not change behaviour instantly, the behaviours require time to prepare and take action and maintain that behaviour.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs explains that people tend to make healthy food choices as they are reaching out towards self-actualization (Cambridge Core, 2020). The basic needs of people should be met. People can move forward having a healthy lifestyle and maintain their well-being when the basic needs for survival are met. The Marmot Review revealed that people who live in the deprived areas have not only higher obesity rates but also higher mortality rate than people who live in the least deprived areas. Health inequality, led by obesity, results in greater social and economic loss to the nation such as years of active independent lives lost, economic loss due to poor productivity caused by illness, and up to £32 billion of welfare payment each year (The Marmot Review, 2010).

In terms of tackling childhood obesity, Maslow’s social model has been studied in literature reviews to emphasise the importance of health and social inequality. People cannot think more than the environment. Improving living environment conditions can help to reduce health inequality.

The topic of the Research is Childhood obesity and its impact on the health and well-being of children in the United Kingdom, and it is closely linked with health inequality in society. The aim of the research is to inform efforts to prevent childhood obesity and therefore reduce the burden of chronic disease in the UK. The research questions have been drawn to achieve the aim, which are, What are the causes and consequences of childhood obesity in the UK, What are the existing challenges to tackling childhood obesity,

What are effective interventions to tackle childhood obesity?  Childhood obesity cannot be approached only from a health perspective, as many environmental factors of individuals cause childhood obesity, it needs to be looked at from many different angles to consider the aspect of childhood obesity and develop effective interventions in order to improve the health and wellbeing of children.