School Lunches Addressing Childhood Obesity Essay

Problem

Childhood obesity is a prominent problem in the United States that impacts children’s health. The consequences of childhood obesity include diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (Sahoo et al., 2015). If the problem remains unaddressed, the burden of non-communicable diseases connected to obesity, such as diabetes, will increase further.

Idea for Addressing Solution

One of the key ways of addressing childhood obesity is through healthy nutrition (Sahoo et al., 2015). Providing healthy, free lunches in schools could thus help children to stabilize their weight and learn more about nutrition. At the moment, not all schools of the state offer free healthy lunch options, but legislation could change that.

Stakeholder Support

Stakeholder(s) Supporting 1

Parents of obese children would be supportive because the change would positively affect their children’s health.

Stakeholder(s) Supporting 2

Pediatric care providers would also support the proposed idea because it would enhance population health outcomes among children.

Stakeholder Opposition

Stakeholder(s) Opposed 1

The state government could oppose the proposition because it requires a significant financial investment. This can be addressed by explaining the financial consequences of public health problems associated with childhood obesity.

Stakeholder(s) Opposed 2

School officials could also oppose the idea because it implies changes to food provision in schools. Performing a cost-benefit analysis would allow defending the idea successfully.

Financial Incentives/Costs

The costs of providing free healthy lunches in schools would be high, but they are balanced by cost savings achieved through improved population health. As projected by researchers, the financial losses associated with non-communicable diseases will reach 94.9 trillion between 2015 and 2050 (Chen, Kuhn, Prettner, & Bloom, 2018). Addressing childhood obesity could help to save a significant share of this sum by improving population health.

Legislature: Information Needed and Process for Proposal

The steps for the presentation of the proposal to the legislator

1. Contact by phone to schedule an appointment
2. Collect relevant information to form a report
3. Present the report with the latest evidence in support of the idea

The process of the introduction the idea as a bill to congress

1. The bill is referred to a Committee
2. Congress members debate the bill
3. The bill is considered by the House
4. If approved, the bill is sent to the President

Christian Principles and Nursing Advocacy

Serving others is among the core principles of Christianity, and it applies to all people regardless of their differences. Following this principle helps care providers to understand the hardships faced by various groups of people and take action to relieve them.

Reference List

Black, J. D. (2016). Healthy school lunches can reduce childhood obesity and diabetes. The Pew Charitable Trusts. Web.

Chen, S., Kuhn, M., Prettner, K., & Bloom, D. E. (2018). The macroeconomic burden of noncommunicable diseases in the United States: Estimates and projections. PloSOone, 13(11), e0206702.

Sahoo, K., Sahoo, B., Choudhury, A. K., Sofi, N. Y., Kumar, R., & Bhadoria, A. S. (2015). Childhood obesity: Causes and consequences. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 4(2), 187-192.