Obesity is a health condition whereby fat accumulates in the body to a point where it becomes a factor for illnesses such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases. Being overweight is a condition of having excess body weight which leads to obesity. Factors such as change of eating lifestyles as a result of socio-economic advancement lead to obesity. Social impacts of obesity include stigmatization associated with the virtue of one being overweight and with infection by obesity-related illnesses, resulting in low self-esteem. Also, obesity has had economic impacts such as massive direct spending on opportunistic infections related to excessive body weight, including diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. This paper aims to examine the social and economic impact of obesity and overweight as a global health issue while focusing on the magnitude of the problem on affected populations and associated risk factors, socio-economic consequences and recommendation for priority action steps to mitigate the epidemic.
Global obesity figures have almost tripled since 1975 (Obesity and Overweight, 2018). In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults were reported to be overweight with 650 million of them being obese (Obesity and Overweight, 2018). In some countries of the world especially the low- and middle-income ones, overweight is more in women than men in urban compared to rural settings and in older individuals compared to younger ones. Over the past three decades, global overweight figures have been shown to increase. The number has increased from 28.8% to 36.9% in men, 29.8% to 38.0% in women, while for the age-standardized population, it has risen from 3.2% to 10.8% in men and from 6.4% to 14.9% in women (Ford, Patel & Narayan, 2017). The developed world such as the western countries have a higher number of obese populations compared to the developing countries.
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In low- and middle income nations, the prevalence of overweight and obesity ranges from a low, 3.2% in Timor-Leste, to a high, 83.5% in Tonga among men who are 20 years and above (Ford, Patel & Narayan, 2017). Also, Ford, Patel & Narayan (2017) report that the figures range from a low, 4.7% in Korea to a high, 88.3% in Tonga among adult women. China, Brazil, Egypt, India, Mexico, and Russia were among the top countries to have the most obese individuals, with China and India having about 15% of the globe’s obese and overweight people (Ford, Patel & Narayan, 2017). Currently, the Pacific Islands, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East have the highest burden of overweight and obesity, with more than 20% of women being obese in Latin American countries and more than 30% in several countries in the Middle East and in North and Southern Africa (Ford, Patel & Narayan, 2017).
The treatment of obesity-related infections such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular illnesses leads to lots of spending. Families of such sick individuals require constant medical check-ups for them, leading to erosion of family property. In the long run, the families are affected as they cannot relate freely to the rest of society due to lack of input to community projects. Also, overweight and obese individuals are prone to stigmatization by the rest of modern society, resulting in low self-esteem. Even, some of the affected individuals lose friends and most of the time stay lonely, affecting their daily routine such as school attendance and consequently failure in tests.
Furthermore, efforts by governments to control obesity have been dealt a massive blow as the affected individuals protest that the government is interfering with their freedom for food choice (Weber, 2015). About 2.8 million loose lives as a result of being overweight or obese, which increases spending on their funerals and leads to emotional breakdowns, hence affecting social relationships (World Obesity Day: Understanding the Social Consequences of Obesity, 2017). Obesity stigma is rampant among children, who are bullied and thus become shameful, low self-esteemed, depressed and could even lead to suicide. Teachers can be biased to expect low grades from obese students, thus creating a sense of powerlessness for the latter, hence poor relationships with the former and peers.
Examples of risk factors associated with obesity include inadequate physical activity, genetic influences, a nutritional mismatch between early and later life and environmental contaminants. Technology has led to a decrease in manual jobs and an increase for sedentary ones, which makes most of the people, especially in the developed nations to become obese. The heritability of Body Mass Index is estimated to be 40%–70% through the control of the physiological response to excess calories and regulation of appetite via hormones (Ford et al., 2017). Most children in developing nations are exposed to imbalanced diet during childhood. However, socio-economic advancement has led to exposure to junk food which facilitates obesity and excess weight (Ford et al., 2017). Organochloride chemicals such as Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) are used in the Asian and the African continent. DDT is resistant to degradation; thus, it biomagnifies and bioaccumulates in human tissues to cause obesity by disrupting endocrine function, modulating gene transcription factors or altering endogenous hormone availability (Ford et al., 2017).
Individuals and governments should understand and mitigate the causes of obesity, hence prevent the social and health capital of future generations and increase inequities in Europe and beyond (World Obesity Day: Understanding the Social Consequences of Obesity, 2017). Extensive research is required for the fundamental causes of obesity and its detection at early stages to prevent its secondary effects. Also, governments should implement physical work-out programs for sedentary employees in all work settings and educate people on their importance.
Although obesity was once only a health issue for the developed world, it has caught up with developing countries in recent years. This can be attributed to advancement in socio-economic lifestyle, leading to raised standards of living with the increased availability of junk foods which are part of the leading causes of obesity and excess weight. Also, advancement in technology has rendered human efforts in the workplace passive, hence availing lots of excess fat in the body, which have led to obesity and consequently, opportunistic illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Since obesity and excess weight are already classified as global health issues, governments across the world should pay closer attention to the causes and prevention of the advancement of obesity by implementing programs as discussed above, which would reduce the workload of medical practitioners and hence render their services valid.
References
Ford, N. D., Patel, S. A., & Narayan, K. V. (2017). Obesity in low-and middle-income countries: burden, drivers, and emerging challenges. Annual review of public health , 38 , 145-164
Obesity and Overweight. (2018, February 16). Retrieved from World Health Organization: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight
Weber, S. C. (2015, May 22). The Socio-Economic Impact of Obesity . Retrieved from CreditSuisse: https://www.credit-suisse.com/corporate/en/articles/news-and-expertise/the-socio-economic-impact-of-obesity-201505.html
World Obesity Day: Understanding the Social Consequences of Obesity . (2017, October 10). Retrieved from World Health Education: http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/disease-prevention/nutrition/news/news/2017/10/world-obesity-day-understanding-the-social-consequences-of-obesity
