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Understanding the socio-economic influences on health
Understanding the socio-economic influences on health
Poverty and living conditions
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In the UK, 64% of the adults are classed as obese and nearly two third of men and women are either obese or overweight(BBC Health,2014). Obesity has always been indeed a serious problem in the western world and is increasing day by day. However, the poor population in the western society is the most effected one and still their number is increasing. This essay will investigate firstly, what is obesity and its causes, moving on to the poor population of the western society who are the most effected one and why they are effected and finally a contract/comparison of the western poor society with the poor population of Pakistan that why poor in Pakistan is not effected by obesity. Obesity is a term used to describe somebody who …show more content…
The question here is why the poor sector in Pakistan is not affected by obesity? Firstly, the most important factor is less wage. The poor sector of Pakistan does not get good wages as minimum wage in very less and those who does labor work does not earn much which results in poor standards of living. Moreover, they do not earn much and their living standards are much more lower than the western poor sector. This lower level of wages does not allow them to buy expensive junk food as fast food in Pakistan is not affordable for the poor community. Similarly, takeaways and fast food outlets does not offer cheap junk food as fast food in Pakistan is expensive and is out of the range of the poor community who rely on less wages. Secondly, another main factor is the eating habits of poor sector of Pakistan are totally different from western poor sector. Most of the poor people do not like to eat junk foods like pizzas, burgers etc as the eating habits are totally different and junk food is not popular among the poor population. Furthermore, As compared to western countries only 22% of men and 37% of women in Pakistan are obese (National Center for Biotechnology,2002) which is much lower than the UK where the obesity rate is 67% for men and 57% for women (The Guardian,2014). There are some more important factors which does not allow poor population of Pakistan to get obese e.g. extreme weather conditions and labor work. Mostly for poor community of Pakistan labor work is their only bread and butter and in order to earn it they need to perform labor work in hard weather conditions. Moreover, Pakistan is one of the world 's hottest place and therefore, the season
Obesity is a global medical issue where people are confused between eating and dieting. I am an Omani student, and back in Oman, it has the same issue as the United States does. Both society try to stop their people from having obesity. However, “What You Eat is Your Business” written by Radely Balko explains how government allow unhealthy food to spread out over the country, and in return the government tries to push people to focus on health care systems where people may not be able to do it. Beside on that, American people try to reduce their meals or eat just a few amount of food without differentiate between health and unhealthy food, and that is because they want to become healthier, which Mary Maxfield clarifies that on her article “Food
She states a simple statistic that claims that obesity ifs the number one killer in America and then proceed to analyze reasons this problem could have arisen. The primary focus of this paper is on the health care disparities in minority communities. She also attributes increase in obesity to increase in high fructose corn sysops in food products, sweetened beverages, dietary habit changes in the past decades, changes in activity levels, governmental policies like farm subsidies. Her focus is in contrast to the other papers because instead of questioning the medicalization of obesity, she is question the changes in society that have led to the increasing obesity. She takes the lethality of obesity as an obvious fact backed by statistical
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.
Over 60 million people are obese in the world today. The socioeconomic statuses of the Americans play a major part in the obesity rates across the country. People with higher incomes are less likely to be obese than people with lower incomes. One in every seven preschool-aged children living in lower income areas are obese (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). A 2008 study showed that obesity is highest among American Indian and Alaska Native (21.2 percent) and Hispanic Americans (18.5 percent) children, and it is lowest among white (12.6 percent), Asian or Pacific Islander (12.3 percent), and black (11.8 percent) children (Get America Fit).
(Jonas Minet, Stephen morris 2010). The prevalence of obesity has increased more than twofold in the last 25 years. In 2014, world health organisation (WHO) estimates that 1.9 billions of world’s adult populations are overweight, of which at least 600 million were obese, representing 13% of adult’s population (obesity WHO, 2014). Obesity is no longer a rich country’s problem, but also affects the poor and emerging countries which make it a major public health challenge. ( )
Today, 78.1 million American adults and 12.5 million children are obese. Obesity in America is a unstoppable epidemic. Since the 1960s, the number of obese adults have doubled and the number of obese children have tripled. Because of America’s obesity problems, Surgeon General David Satcher issued a report saying; "The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight," said that obesity "have reached epidemic proportions" in America. Obesity in America has no doubt reached epidemic proportions. Since 2001, America has been the most obese country in the world. This essay discusses what obesity is and how it is affecting today’s America by answers the following questions:
Since 1970, the obesity rates in America have more than doubled. Currently two-thirds of (roughly 150 million) adults in the United States are either overweight, or obese (Food Research and Action Center). According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, “overweight is defined as a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 whereas obesity is defined as a BMI greater than 30.” There are numerous factors that contribute to obesity such as: biological, behavioral and cultural influences (Food Research and Action Center). While these factors all have a large role in obesity, there is no factor with as great of an influence as poverty.
This chapter gives various social and biological reasons for the growing world-wide health concern of obesity. Name them and views - why is the reality of weight for most people so far from the cultural or societal ideal?
"The increased prevalence of overweight and obesity particularly among children and adolescents is a severe public health problem" (Bray, 2005). According to our text, health education and health promotion are recognized increasingly as ways to meet public health objectives and improve the success of public health and medical interventions around the world (Gollust, 2014).
Obesity means having too much body fat. It is not the same as being overweight, which means weighing too much. Someone may be overweight from extra muscle, bone, or water, as well as from having too much fat. (Bing health). Obesity is a major problem that is occurring in parts all over the world. Currently, the fattest nation is America . Many people are overweight because the do too little or no exercise at all. This is especially true in countries like America, where as people are bombarded by fast food stores on virtually every corner. Obesity can not only cause health problems, but as well mental ones. Obese people may think of themselves as a useless human being because they are too fat and can’t accomplish anything, because of their weight. Though this is incorrect, many people believe this and end up taking their life. In this paper we will describe the causes of obesity and ways to combat the “everlasting epidemic.”
When one hears the word obesity thoughts that may come to mind are overweight, big, or even unhealthy. "Obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of greater than 30" (Obesity).
“More than one third of America’s population is obese, which is about 35.4% including: men, women, and children” (www.cdc.gov). Unfortunately, this statistic is 100% true. America is hungry, constantly. This definitely shows that the land of liberty is growing in the midsection; no, not the Midwest, on the bellies of the people who live throughout the nation. America has a typical hierarchy of factors who rule the over the obese population. Junk food, lack of mobility, and undereducated knowledge of a healthy lifestyle, often contradict the fate of an obese person.
The first and most common cause of obesity here in Kuwait is poor food choice. The amount of junk food that the average person is in taking is immense, and so is the amount of fast food restaurants that are literally found in every neighborhood. A large amount of Kuwaitis are not aware of the nutritional value of the food they are consuming, nor do they care about this value as much as they care about the pleasurable experience of eating delicious food; thus, obesity ratings are only getting higher. Going out for dinner every other night is...
Modern poverty is so closely related with obesity for many reasons. First of all, poor people are ignorant and uneducated about their health and nutrition. Obviously, because of that they don’t really know what they are doing or even how they are taking the risk of eating some kinds of food. Poor people go for good tasting food without paying attention to the food’s freshness and safety. Moreover, children grow up without a proper understanding of good nutrition, so it is time to reintroduce nutrition to families and even in schools to kids. Second of all, poor people cannot afford buying healthy food. A person who is poor and hungry is going to buy the cheapest calories that he or she could find. In fact in today’s world, the cheapest calories come from junk food. It is cheaper and ...
Obesity occurs in all countries and it is one of the gravest problems in modern society. Obesity problems have become one matter of concern for individuals all around the world. What is more is that Obesity rates continue to rise all around the world. One of the chief causes is unhealthy diets. Obesity is also due to lack of exercise and lack of education and awareness. Therefore obesity has various effects including the risk of suffering from a range of health conditions, increased expenditure on health care and lack of self-esteem.