Obesity and Social Determinants of Health

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Obesity and social determinants of health
Overweight and obesity problem is becoming more and more serious in Australia. Not only Australians but also the world’s problem obesity is studied as one of the main causes of chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and some cancers and sleep apnoea as well as other serious conditions, which put national economies and individual lives at risk. Obesity is also regarded as epidemic. Obesity is caused by a calorific imbalance between diet intake and consumed calories. Obesity has become the biggest threat to Public Health in Australia shown by Australia Bureau of Statistics (2013). Also, the prevalence of obesity is predicted as the ratio of obesity in adults and children will be doubled by 2025 (Backholer et al.2012). It is believed that this phenomenon is happening due to many social determinants of health, which have a strong negative impact on not only individuals but also society and economy. (Wilkinson and Marmot 2003) The social determinants of health are explained as conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age by WHO (Wilkinson & Marmot 2013). Different circumstances can be formed depending on their finance, power and global resources. These social determinants seem to be responsible for health inequities, which seem to be unfair and avoidable. Social determinants of health including social gradient, high calorie food intake, excessive amounts of stress and poor early life care are the relevant factors to contribute to be or being obesity. It is important to understand that the correlation of social determinants of health and obesity to manage the health problems and enhance public’s health.

A social gradient is one of the social...

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...ctive study’, BMJ2006, vol. 23, no. 11-12, pp. 887-894.
Krech, R. 2011, ‘Social determinants of health: practical solutions to deal with a well- recognized issue’, Bull World Health Organ, vol. 89, pp. 703.
Markwick, A., Loretta, V. & Ansari, Z. 2013, ‘Opposing socioeconomic gradients in overweight and obese adults’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 32-38
Rosier, K. 2011, ‘Food insecurity in Australia: What is it, who experiences it and how can child and family services support families experiencing it?’, Australian Institute of
Family Studies, viewed 8 April, < http://www.aifs.gov.au/cafca/pubs/sheets/ps/ps9.html>
Wilkinson, R. & Marmot, M. 2003, Social Determinants of Health: The Solid Facts, second edition, World Health Organization Europe, Denmark, pp. 1-31.

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