Children & Adolescents: The Growing Obesity Challenge Globally - Essay Sample

Introduction

In the population, nearly one-third of the children, as well as adolescents, are affected by the issue of obesity in many countries. Its prevalence had such that it was taken as the only main health concern among the parents in the current society. However, the problem in highly escalating in other parts of the world and affects both the low-income as well as the middle-class countries in the same way. From research, it has been found out that over 40 million children in Asia and Africa below the age of five are victims of obesity, and out of these many of them die every year (Bleich, 2013). This could be awkward but conveys a lot of information about how obesity has compromised the future life health styles of the young ones.

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According to the nursing intervention, Diseases like the high blood pressure, high cholesterol, coronary heart disease, stroke as well as diabetes type II is more likely to be contracted by the children with the obesity condition (Hales, 2017). Besides, most of them grow up with the condition leading to more complications which are psychological inclusive of the negative body image, reduced self-esteem, as well as depression .it is worth noting that increased body weight results in the earlier risks of the obesity-related induced illness and death in adulthood.

There has always been a need for the patients care against child obesity. In the United States, the obesity occurrence can be attributed to the readily available good tasting food to children, which has got high Calorie and to add on these the food is relatively cheap. However, the health effects of consuming them are quite disastrous. When the children are fed on these, and they fail to participate in physical activities and inactivity in their behavior, they now become highly susceptible to childhood obesity. The family characteristics, as well as the environmental factors, are what impart all the factors mentioned above (Karnik, 2012). For example, if the parents will incorporate the habit of eating the junk kind of food at home right from their young age, they fall into the likelihood of bearing obese children. Doing activities like watching TV and just remaining inactive without indulging in any job should also be discouraged; otherwise, the children will have a high tendency of becoming dormant. The various adverts encouraging junk food consumption also attracts the children into eating habits which are not favorable to their health (Ludwig, 2018). Also, it is worth noting that what can additionally contribute to childhood obesity is genetic factors.

Child obesity impacts go beyond the issues related to health as it can result in the negative influence on the social status of a child. Often, it results in anxiety, depression, as well as self-esteem since obese children have a higher tendency of being more vulnerable compared to the normal kids in school. Besides, it can be associated with other eating disorders like the Bulimia Nervosa (Pantanowitz, 2016). These have a direct effect on the child's health condition and hence resulting in poor performance due to the low life quality the child is subjected to.

Basing on the healthcare agency, a lot ought to be done to address this prevailing issue. First, there is a high need to improve the affordability as well as the access to fruits and vegetables, especially for the low-income population (Ebbeling, 2002). This has a higher chance of alleviating the child obesity issue. Another case is environmental change, which is always inevitable and could perhaps be the main solution to children obesity. As opposed to having the vending machines in schools which are filled with the junk foods, schools and also parents should opt for the healthier food alternatives, put physical activities as the main focus and always create an awareness to their kids on the effects of eating habits which are unhealthy. It is also the government's responsibility to impose more tight rules and regulations on the fast foods advertisement by putting limits on them (Syrad, 2016). Above all these arguments, it is extremely important to acquire and maintain appropriate body weight, and the only sure way of achieving this is constantly involving oneself in active physical activities and exercise apart from the healthy eating habits.

Conclusion

To sum up on this, in the nursing practice, the healthcare professionals, as well as the families, should be aware that the main serious issue in society today is childhood obesity. The parents should also be aware that in the United States, there has been no approved medication for childhood obesity. In fact, the pediatricians' association in America have deterred the use of any medication to regulate children weight. However, the current efforts in a bid to alleviate the problem cannot be assumed but rather more needs to be done on it. The childhood obesity effects are long-lasting; hence, it is more likely to have a big menace to the millions of children's future that can easily be avoided. Therefore, all the practitioners in the healthcare ought to join hands in fighting against childhood obesity using all the possible means including parent's education on the promotion of a healthy lifestyle to their young ones.

References

Bleich, S. N., Segal, J., Wu, Y., Wilson, R., & Wang, Y. (2013). A systematic review of community-based childhood obesity prevention studies. Pediatrics, 132(1), e201-e210.

Pantanowitz, M., Eliakim, A., Igbaria, N., Geva, D., & Nemet, D. (2016). Teachers' perspective on a health promotion intervention in low socioeconomic status kindergartens. Adv Phys Educ, 6, 336-343.

Ebbeling, C. B., Pawlak, D. B., & Ludwig, D. S. (2002). Childhood obesity: public-health crisis, common sense cure. The lancet, 360(9331), 473-482.

Hales, C. M., Carroll, M. D., Fryar, C. D., & Ogden, C. L. (2017). Prevalence of obesity among adults and youth: the United States, 2015-2016.

Syrad, H., Johnson, L., & Llewellyn, C. H. (2016). Assessing a child's appetite could help prevent obesity - British Journal of Family Medicine.

Karnik, S., & Kanekar, A., (2012). Childhood obesity: a global public health crisis. Int J Prev Med, 3(1), 1-7.

Ludwig, D. S., (2018). Epidemic Childhood Obesity: Not Yet the End of the Beginning. Pediatrics, 141(3).

Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Kit, B. K., & Flegal, K. M. (2014). Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. Jama, 311(8), 806-814.

Reilly, J. J., & Kelly, J. (2011). The long-term impact of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence on morbidity and premature mortality in adulthood: a systematic review. International journal of obesity, 35(7), 891.