Advocating for Childhood Obesity Prevention Policy

Advocating for Childhood Obesity Prevention Policy

Given your specific work experience or career goals, name a policy that you recognize needs to be on the agenda at the local, state, or national level.  

In recent years, childhood obesity has emerged as one of the leading public health concerns, rivaling formerly thread conditions such as smoking in negatively impacting the American population. In the field of pediatrics, childhood obesity has been found to be a tool of childhood and plays a significant role in adolescent and adult mortality and morbidity. Since 1960, the prevalence of childhood obesity has almost quadrupled for adolescents and children, moving from 22.1% to close to 12-and-a-half million in 2020 (Lambrinou et al., 2020). Such growth in the prevalence of childhood obesity has made the condition an epidemic of overweight among American children and is threatening the health gains of children and adolescents (Anderson et al., 2019). This calls for a priority policy in the United States that can help address childhood obesity in order to promote health outcomes for children and adolescents in the country. In the face of this epidemic, public health policy for preventing childhood obesity, especially the comprehensive school wellness policy, is crucial as it will help the health sector to prevent, identify, and manage childhood obesity (Lambrinou et al., 2020). By implementing the public policy addressing childhood obesity, American schools and families will get a platform that gives them strategies to address obesity.

With the increase in childhood obesity and chronic diseases in the U.S., attention should be shifted to preventing the overweight epidemic. Comprehensive School Wellness is a policy priority due to its potential to reduce healthcare costs and enhance chronic disease outcomes among children, even adolescents and adults (Anderson et al., 2019). The Comprehensive School Wellness policy is necessary as it focuses on action that can help federal, state, and local schools mobilize resources and fund the strategies, initiatives, and programs that are aimed at preventing obesity. This policy should be on the agenda at local, state, and national levels as it is designed to create a healthy school environment that promotes physical activity and good nutrition among children and students in the U. S. As a result, the American public population will be well equipped to deal and prevent childhood obesity at different levels and in various settings (Lambrinou et al., 2020). Childhood obesity is a worldwide epidemic that has serious consequences such as increased risk of developing non-communicable diseases later in life, psychosocial disorders in childhood, and psychological and psychiatric disorders.

Defend why you have singled out this particular policy over others and describe what specific steps you can take to begin the process of getting it on the agenda. Identify a specific stakeholder who may be influential in advancing this policy.

The Comprehensive School Wellness Policy is singled out over other public health policies mainly because it will provide the healthcare sector, schools, and families a platform to address numerous physical problems such as psychological disorders such as poor self-esteem, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and type 2 diabetes associated with diabetes (Drozdz et al., 2021). Such conditions do not only impact the health of American children but also strengthen the foundation of the ongoing chronic disease issues in the U.S. in the future. Therefore, it is important to prevent childhood obesity as it will help the U.S. health sector enhance the general health and well-being of not only children but the entire public population (Nittari et al., 2019). Additionally, it will lessen the strain the U.S. healthcare system feels, ultimately saving lives.

Prioritizing the Comprehensive School Wellness preventive public policy will help address childhood obesity, which is highly associated with an increase in medical expense for both short-term and long-term management of linked health problems in children (Nittari et al., 2019). Ultimately, the public health policy will help lessen the financial burden the healthcare system is experiencing now as it improves nutritional standards by establishing effective standards for school meals, beverages, and snacks and prioritizing vegetables, fruits, and whole foods in U.S. schools. Furthermore, the Comprehensive School Wellness policy requires and funds schools to enhance physical education programs in school so that they have physical activity opportunities during school days. By preventing childhood obesity through public health policy, the federal, state, and local levels of government will lessen the financial burden associated with an increase in medical expenses (Drozdz et al., 202