Prevalence of Obesity in Australia
The health problem that this paper is concerned about is obesity. Obesity is the complex disease which involves excessive amount of fat in the body (Huse et al. 2018).
Location about which this paper will discuss about is Australia. As per the estimation, near about 12.5 million adults are affected by obesity in Australia which presents the gruesome picture of the effect of this health disease on the people of Australia (Machado et al. 2020).
Aboriginals plus the Torres Strait Islanders people of Australia is the concerned population or community for this paper about which the health data is reporting in terns of this health problem (Thurber et al. 2018). As per the statistics, more than 74 percent of the adult aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders people are suffering from obesity (Thurber et al. 2018).
As stated above, when there is excessive amount of fat in the body then the condition is termed as obesity. It is not a cosmetic concern but it is a serious medical problem which increases risk of other health problems plus diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes (Sherriff et al. 2019). When people take more calories than burned by daily activities and exercises, obesity occurs (Whettam et al. 2022). When the body mass index of person is 25 or more than 25 then that person is considered as having obesity (Sherriff et al. 2019). Symptoms of this health condition are as follows: 1) pain on the low back, 2) pain on the knee joint or hip joint, 3) heavy sweating, 4) low confidence or low self – esteem, 5) all time fatigue, 6) breathing shortness and 7) sleep apnoea or snoring (Whettam et al. 2022). Therefore, it can be stated that there are few main reasons because of which obesity develops which are poor diet, too little physical activity.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia is the group of population who are vulnerable to this health problem. Among this vulnerable population, people who are 18 years old and more than 18 are the main group which are overweight or obese (Vincze et al. 2022).
Figure 1 showing the prevalence of the health problem among the targeted population group of Australia
(Source – Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2022)
As per the statistics of the year 2018 to 2019, three in every four people from aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people group are obsess which represents that near about 74 percent of the total aboriginal people are suffering from the obesity condition (Salmon et al. 2019). This rate indicates the affected people who are 18 years old or more than 18 years old (Salmon et al. 2019).
There are a number of behavioural factors that are responsible for causing obesity such as 1) having diet which is with high energy density, 2) high level of consuming sugar – sweetened drinks, 3) having large portion of the food, 4) eating patterns, 5) higher level of sedentary behaviours and 6) low level of physical activity (Mihrshahi, Gow and Baur 2018). In terms of lifestyle factors, there are a number of lifestyle factors that are responsible for developing obese condition which are as follows: 1) drinking too much alcohol because alcohol is used to contain a lot of calories and that is why people who drinks heavily are usually overweight or obese (Mihrshahi, Gow and Baur 2018).
Causes of Obesity
Population group who is most at risk of this health problem is the aboriginal people who are 18 years old (Pringle et al. 2019). Even the children of this group of people have the higher rate of having obesity as compared to the non – indigenous children (Perry et al. 2022). In addition to the behaviour and lifestyle factors, socio – economic factors that put this group of people in risk of obesity are as follows: 1) prolonged financial stress, 2) food insecurity, 3) urbanisation, 4) substandard housing, overcrowded housing, 5) lack of enough access to the health care services (Pringle et al. 2019).
The social factors that lead to the contributing factor of developing obesity among indigenous people of Australia are as follows – discrimination and racism has put this population group as segregated which makes this population group deprived of education, lifestyle benefits such as job, financial stability etc. these factors contribute to the development of poor lifestyle behaviours which are responsible for developing obesity among this group of people (Perry et al. 2022).
Economic factors that lead to the contributing factor of developing obesity among indigenous people of Australia are as follows – lack of job, lack of proper financial income, prolonged financial stress, poverty which bring food insecurity (Sainsbury et al. 2020). This factor is responsible for developing poor behavioural choices which are responsible for developing obesity among this group of people (Perry et al. 2022).
Environmental factors that lead to the contributing factor of developing obesity among indigenous people of Australia are as follows – being from remote areas, there is lack of access to proper health care support which generated neglecting approach towards health and well -being status of these people which contribute to the development of obesity among this people (Sainsbury et al. 2020).
Statistical data state that the social, economic and environmental factors are responsible for poverty which is the main contributing factor for the poor health of the aboriginal people of Australia (Deacon – Crouch, Begg and Skinner 2020). Poor education along with poor literacy rate are related to the poor status of health of these people (Deacon – Crouch, Begg and Skinner 2020). They affect the capacity of these people in using the health information (Deacon – Crouch, Begg and Skinner 2020). Also, poorer income decreases the accessibility of the health services as well as medicines (Deacon – Crouch, Begg and Skinner 2020). Poor infant diet is related to poverty which leads to the chronic disease like obesity in later stage of life (Deacon – Crouch, Begg and Skinner 2020). Also, smoking plus high -risk behaviour such as alcohol drinking are associated with the poor economic status (Deacon – Crouch, Begg and Skinner 2020). Therefore, it can be stated that social, economic and environmental factors lead to poverty which is the main contributing factor for the development of the obese health condition of this group of people (Deacon – Crouch, Begg and Skinner 2020).
Factors which are affecting ability of target group to reach out for support are as follows: 1) poverty – due to poor economic status, people cannot approach the access to the health care services as well as medicines, 2) lack of education and poor literacy rate – due to this factor, targeted people group cannot understand the health information which is available to them, 3) remote area – due to being from remote areas, travelling to the health care centres is difficult and because of which the targeted people neglect their health status as far as possible (Thurber et al. 2018).
Behavioral Factors
Five people or team or organisation that the RN can partner with in order to work on addressing the obesity – related health problems are as follows: 1) primary care provider, 2) a pharmacist, 3) National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), 4) a general physician and 5) lifestyle counsellor (Sherriff et al. 2019).
The primary care provider will provide preventive care after identification of the medical condition (Salmon et al. 2019). Pharmacist will provide the medication which will be prescribed by the doctor (Salmon et al. 2019). The reason behind the collaboration with NACCHO is that this organisation will assist the nurse by informing about the government policy for the indigenous people of Australia (Salmon et al. 2019). Further, the lifestyle counsellor will help the patients on marinating a healthy life style which is important especially for the obesity (Salmon et al. 2019).
Obesity is a prevalent health problem across the world (Machado et al. 2020). In Australia this problem is found to be present mainly among the aboriginals whose lifestyle as well as behavioural factors are responsible for the prevalence of this disease (Machado et al. 2020).
References
Deacon-Crouch, M., Begg, S. and Skinner, T., 2020. Is sleep duration associated with overweight/obesity in Indigenous Australian adults?. BMC Public Health, 20(1), pp.1-13.
Huse, O., Hettiarachchi, J., Gearon, E., Nichols, M., Allender, S. and Peeters, A., 2018. Obesity in Australia. Obesity research & clinical practice, 12(1), pp.29-39.
Machado, P.P., Steele, E.M., Levy, R.B., da Costa Louzada, M.L., Rangan, A., Woods, J., Gill, T., Scrinis, G. and Monteiro, C.A., 2020. Ultra-processed food consumption and obesity in the Australian adult population. Nutrition & diabetes, 10(1), pp.1-11.
Mihrshahi, S., Gow, M.L. and Baur, L.A., 2018. Contemporary approaches to the prevention and management of paediatric obesity: an Australian focus. Medical Journal of Australia, 209(6), pp.267-274.
Perry, C., Dimitropoulos, Y., Skinner, J., Bourke, C., Miranda, K., Cain, E., Beaufils, D., Christie, V., Rambaldini, B. and Gwynne, K., 2022. Availability of drinking water in rural and remote communities in New South Wales, Australia. Australian Journal of Primary Health.
Pringle, K.G., Lee, Y.Q., Weatherall, L., Keogh, L., Diehm, C., Roberts, C.T., Eades, S., Brown, A., Smith, R., Lumbers, E.R. and Brown, L.J., 2019. Influence of maternal adiposity, preterm birth and birth weight centiles on early childhood obesity in an Indigenous Australian pregnancy-through-to-early-childhood cohort study. Journal of developmental origins of health and disease, 10(1), pp.39-47.
Sainsbury, E., Magnusson, R., Thow, A.M. and Colagiuri, S., 2020. Explaining resistance to regulatory interventions to prevent obesity and improve nutrition: a case-study of a sugar-sweetened beverages tax in Australia. Food Policy, 93, p.101904.
Salmon, M., Skelton, F., Thurber, K.A., Kneebone, L.B., Gosling, J., Lovett, R. and Walter, M., 2019. Intergenerational and early life influences on the well-being of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children: overview and selected findings from Footprints in Time, the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children. Journal of developmental origins of health and disease, 10(1), pp.17-23.
Sherriff, S.L., Baur, L.A., Lambert, M.G., Dickson, M.L., Eades, S.J. and Muthayya, S., 2019. Aboriginal childhood overweight and obesity: the need for Aboriginal designed and led initiatives.
Thurber, K.A., Joshy, G., Korda, R., Eades, S.J., Wade, V., Bambrick, H., Liu, B. and Banks, E., 2018. Obesity and its association with sociodemographic factors, health behaviours and health status among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal adults in New South Wales, Australia. J Epidemiol Community Health, 72(6), pp.491-498.
Vincze, L., Boswell, M., Atkins, H., Littlewood, R. and Williams, L., 2022. Addressing childhood obesity in Queensland: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker perspectives and practices. Health Promotion Journal of Australia.
Whettam, L., Bergmeier, H., Chung, A. and Skouteris, H., 2022. The ongoing impact of colonisation on childhood obesity prevention: a First Nations’ perspective. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 46(1), pp.3-6.
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