Risk of Obesity in Low and Middle-Income Countries (Essay)

This blog entry has been inspired by Reid Hamel's commentary titled Weighing the Risk of Obesity in Low and Middle-Income Countries . This blog entry does not pose any discrimination to any individual, group, or organization.

Upon looking for some articles, journals, and commentaries to download and read online, I decided to read a topic that I do not usually put my focused attention to which is global health .

Upon going over this 500+ words commentary, I learned a lot of principles and information. The following will be mentioned and thoroughly (as I would try to) discuss below.

According to the article: (non-verbatim)

Overweight and obesity can weakeb cognitive and motor functions thus reducing ability for one to reach his or her greatest potential as well as providing the community with full economic contributions.

Children born to obese mothers or who develop obesity early in life often have lower attention span, reduced executive functions, diminished mathematics and reading achievement.

As mentioned by the author/ writer, hunger-related crises does not only affect the the public health realm but also the state's economic productivity and political stability. Later on, you would understand that the problem does not only cover a number of people, but would affect the entire system.

Quick facts from the commentary:

• The number of overweight people is three times more than the undernourished globally.
• The obesity epidemic has not yet been reversed by any state around the globe.
• Most of the target countries of the US government's global hunger and food security initiative consists of a high rate of obesity.
• Food insecurity, undernourished, and obesity can coexist in the community.

The first fact is not that evident unless otherwise we study the figures in global scale. It has not been given much importance as most initiatives/ programs implemented in line with global health focuses on undernourished people.

The obesity epidemic, as how the writer termed it, is multi-sectoral and complex in regard with the nature of its cause. It has been pointed though that the occurence of high rate of obesity in global scale can be associated with the significant shift in dietary patterbs because of (1) increasing number of fastfood chains and retail stores, (2) urbanization, (3) and income growth which is the product of the second factor. With these being mentioned, population has more access on animal-sourced and ultra-processed food.

On my behalf, I would not disagree on this one. Because of globalization, a lot of convenience stores are sprouting around not just in mega-cities but even in rural areas as well. Peope have easier access to food. A lot of jobs are requiring people to become less active, and be more passive.

If the population will also indulge in physical activities, the obesity epidemic can be mitigated. In line with that, I would like to point out that organizations should have a healthy work schedule for the employees and must also focus on the health and well-being of everyone. We must not only think of being efficient and productive at work, we must also secure our health through improved lifestyle.

Policy makers should give attention to this issue, and other sectors in the society, it may be able to develop a thorough research on its major factors. By underpinning the causes, they might be able to come up with collaborative actions to solve the problem.

My Suggestions
In Philippines, I would suggest that the government could give incentives to offices with implemented programs that catered the well-being of their employees. A group of health experts could also come up with an award winning body that would honor organizations that were able to have a healthy population of employees.

The subject Health at school should include actitvities that would enhance the health conditions of every students. It should be filled with activities that health-focused and cultural-sensitive as well. Caferias should also include healthy meals and snacks for students. Junk foods should not be patronized as well. Students with health problems must be taken care of though.

I would really love to put emphasis on this subject mainly because the lives of every individual matters. By putting emphasis on the lives of everyone, it means the health of every individual must be safeguarded.

If this epidemic would be solved, communities might be hampered with more possible problems brought by it.

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Opinions? Reactions? Insights? Feel free to comment down below. Let us have a healthy discussion below. 😊

^{@gailbelga or Johanna Gail is a free-spirited freelance artist. She took up Bachelor of Arts in International Studies in one of the Ateneo universities in the Philippines. She is currently a candidate for Masters in Public Administrations. She volunteers in various non-profit/nongovernmental organization which aims for human rights through political education. She draws and writes about the country to provide awareness and promote the Philippines to foreign tourists.}