Introduction
The problem of childhood obesity has become so prevalent in the society in the recent times such that it presents a great challenge to the general health and well-being of the society. Despite the efforts that have been put to regulate the food industry and advertisements to ensure that children are discouraged from taking foodstuffs that lead to increase in weight and ultimately obesity (Kann, Brener & Wechsler 2007). This calls for a new health approach to address the issues of obesity; there is however barriers to the introduction of a new public health approach as enumerated in the next section.
Barriers to a new public health approach
The first barrier that is faced in the implementation of a new public health approach is in relation to the members of community in which the new intervention is being introduced. There may be unwillingness by the members of the society to adopt the new interventions and incorporate them in their day to day activities. Without their willingness, the chances of success of a new health approach are limited (Hesketh et al. 2005).
The second barrier can be attributed to the lack of funds to create awareness among the members of the community on the interventions that they need to incorporate in their daily activities in order to overcome child obesity. The third barrier can be attributed to the lack of a mechanism for creating awareness among the health professionals on the contents and strategies that need to be put in place for the new health care system. The health care professionals will play a critical role in the implementation of a new health system and they therefore need to fully understand the contents of the new system for it to be successful.
The fourth barrier to the implementation of a new public health approach for reducing obesity can be attributed to the lack of governmental support for implementation of the new program. The governmental support can be in the form of formulation of policies that are geared towards putting in place a mechanism to increase awareness and subsequent implementation of the new health approach. It is worth noting that in order to obtain a reduction in cases of obesity, it will be very critical to enforce a behavioral change in the children and this might involve activities such as a reduction in activities such as watching television and taking up physical activities and exercise (Hesketh et al. 2005).
However a fifth barrier exists in the inability by the parents to initiate this behavioral change in their children and this proves to be a major hindrance in the adoption of a new public health system.
The final barrier that exists is in the implementation of a new system of education in the schools to ensure that the school children are able to adopt behaviors and lifestyle that will discourage food consumption habits that lead to obesity. A successful implementation of such a system in the schools can ensure that the society is able to reduced cases of obesity quite considerably (Kann, Brener & Wechsler 2007).
Conclusion
It is clear that childhood obesity presents a major challenge in the society and thus there is a need for interventions to ensure that its occurrence is reduced. However the implementation of a new public health approach faces quite a number of barriers as listed above; if these barriers are considered and addressed successfully, then the chances of success of a new public health approach to address obesity can be increased considerably.
References
Hesketh, K., Waters, E., Green, J., Salmon, L., & Williams, J 2005, “Healthy eating, activity and obesity prevention: a qualitative study of parent and child perceptions in Australia.” Health Promot Int, 20(1):19-26.
Kann, L., Brener, N., & Wechsler, H 2007, Overview and summaries: School health policies and programs study 2006, Journal of School Health, 77(8): 385–397.