Obesity In Australia Essay

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One of the greatest public health challenges confronting Australia and many other industrialised countries is the obesity epidemic. Australia is one of the most overweight developed nations, with one in four children being overweight or obese. (Moodle et al., 2009) The prevalence of overweight and obesity is higher among Indigenous young people, based on self- reported height and weight information. Indigenous young people aged 15–24 years were more likely to be overweight or obese than non-Indigenous young people (37% and 27% respectively). (Australian Government: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2014)

In addition Indigenous boys born between 2010 and 2012 can expect to live to 69.1 years and Indigenous girls to 73.7 years compared with 79.7 for non-Indigenous boys and 83.1 for non-Indigenous girls. (Moodle et al., 2009) Many factors contribute to the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health. Social disadvantage, such as lower education and employment rates, as well as higher smoking rates, poor nutrition, physical inactivity and poor access to health services (Australian Government: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2014).

Our health promotion project, ‘A Healthier …show more content…

Young Indigenous people who live in rural and remote areas of Victoria are particularly disadvantaged with regards to healthy and supportive environments and community (Strong, Kathleen, 1998). It is important that young people are given and surrounded with positive and healthy information as well as good education to assist them developing proper healthy cognition towards different media platforms. Therefore, we have designed an educational program of marketing and media to educate young indigenous people about how media and marketing work and how to differentiate good and bad

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