People across the world, particularly in the U.S, are victims of various healthcare challenges in different environments. This realization calls for the need to have suitable policies that will help the victims overcome healthcare issues. Notably, obesity is among the primary problems affecting a significant percentage of U.S. natives. Importantly, apart from obesity being a national disaster, it also causes other illnesses such as cancer, stroke, and diabetes mellitus (Fox et al., 2019).
Consequently, the U.S government is currently using a considerable amount of money to lower the rate of occurrences and the impacts of the disease. Noteworthy, according to U.S. government reports, one in three men is obese, which is a similar case to women (Fox et al., 2019). Undeniably, U.S has the highest incidents of obesity across the world. Remarkably, approximately $150 billion are annually spent on obesity medical treatment (Fox et al., 2019). Therefore, this essay will define the main factors leading to obesity as well as determine the policy implementation gap and address recommendations to change the future results in regards to obesity. Besides, the impact of obesity on the healthcare delivery system will be discussed.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Affected Population
According to 2015 official reports, about 70 percent of adults’ population, and approximately 25 percent of the children population in America are victims of obesity (Caruso, 2018). Besides, reports from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that the population of obese people in the U.S. is on the rise, and it is anticipated that in the future, about three quarters of the entire American people will be fighting obesity. Likewise, as reported by the National Center for Health Statistics, approximately 93.3 million American individuals are at the risk of being obese by 2020 (Caruso, 2018). Accordingly, it is vital to come up with suitable policies to address the issue. This is because obesity is the mother to other diseases such as diabetes mellitus, heart diseases, and different cancer types, among other diseases. Markedly, obesity is a condition where the extra body fats accumulate and become toxic to the body. Therefore, it will be critical for the government to emphasize the problem of initiating policies to address the health defect.
National Level of Occurrence
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the American population gains approximately 20 percent calories from the consumption of meat and fast foods. Thus, the levels of fat in the body increase directly impacting the health of particular people. Equally, according to World Health Organization reports, it is the increase of the sale of fast foods that are currently contributing to the rise in most individuals' mass index of the body. For instance, a body mass index of more than forty reflects obesity at its severe level (Fox et al.,2019). Worth noting, the confused pattern of diets in most people is the primary root of obesity. These group of people lacks awareness on how to control the high levels of their mas index. Besides, regardless of using large amounts of money in managing health problems, still, cases are on the rise, where lifestyle is the contributing factor.
Current Policy suggestions for addressing obesity
There are different suggestions on ways of tackling obesity by using an existing policy. For example, the ideas will range from first developing a suitable policy with recommendations as well as other follow-up steps, which will enable the victims to overcoming obesity and related challenges. Additionally, obesity victims need to maintain their patterns of diets. This will help them to control fast food consumption, control the intake of sugary beverages, and avoid all other items contributing to the rise in the deposition of fats in the body (Fox et al., 2019). Besides, a change in the primary lifestyle of the victims and focus on being involved in daily routine physical exercises will be of help in addressing obesity. In this context, the U.S. government has initiated three policy types in controlling the levels of obesity. They include; the policy of physical activity, Eating healthy policy, and policy on nutritional standards. These policies are defined by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and Healthy Food Financing Initiative Programs. Nonetheless, the government is entitled to the responsibility of suitably deploying these policies in achieving the required objectives.
Policy implementation change
Regardless of the implementation of the different policies, the obesity cases are still witnessed; thus, the need for policy implementation changes. This will involve primarily monitoring the policies' progress and determining the gaps in health if any. Consequently, new recommendations should as well be developed, if no remarkable change is recorded.
Funding Considerations
Obesity, being a national crisis, funding considerations need to be implemented. These include looking for funds from healthcare organizations, regulatory authorities, healthcare practitioners, parents, and associated healthcare staff (Caruso, 2018). These healthcare and individual sponsors will help fund practitioners, nurses, doctors, and moderators handling obesity cases.
Impact on the delivery system of healthcare
The existence and occurrence of obesity have adversely impacted on the healthcare delivery system in various ways. For example, since the disease results in other illnesses such as hypertension, the trend affects healthcare spending plans. This means that more funds need to be directed on the control and treatment of obesity victims (Fox et al., 2018). Besides, more care needs to be addressed to the victims in regards to lifestyle and diet change, which affects service delivery because most nurses and doctors will always be occupied. Generally, national plans in healthcare are affected because both resources and time must be factored during the making of the arrangements.
References
Caruso, G. (2018). Public health and safety: The social determinants of health and criminal behavior. Gregg D. Caruso .
Fox, M., Zuidema, C., Bauman, B., Burke, T., & Sheehan, M. (2019). Integrating Public Health into Climate Change Policy and Planning: State of Practice Update. International journal of environmental research and public health , 16 (18), 3232.
