This document discusses childhood obesity as a major public health problem. It reports that childhood obesity rates are increasing worldwide, with over 40 million children under 5 overweight or obese. The prevalence of childhood obesity in the UK is also rising, with 1 in 3 children aged 10-11 overweight or obese. The main causes of childhood obesity discussed are issues with food environment, physical activity levels, societal influences, and poverty. The conclusion states that childhood obesity poses a major public health threat and interventions are needed to address this global issue.

1. Childhood Obesity
Health Promotion and Health
Development
Aryda Aldana

2. • According to WHO childhood obesity is one of
the major public health problems of the 21st
century.
• Swanton, (2008) stated obesity is predicted
to affect 60% of adult men, 50% of adult
women and 25% of children by 2050.
• This issues introducing children to sickness
that are once common only in adults.
• Once considered a high-income country
problem, overweight and obesity are now on
the rise in low- and middle-income countries,
particularly in urban settings.
• Obese children and adolescents are at an
increased risk of developing various health
problems, and are also more likely to become
obese adults.
• Most of the world's population live in
countries where overweight and obesity kills
more people than underweight.
INTRODUCTION

3. EPIDEMIOLOGY
• The prevalence of child obesity is increasing rapidly worldwide (WHO, 2013).
• 42 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2013 (WHO, 2015).
• According to National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP), in 2014/15, 19.1% of children in
Year 6 (aged 10-11) were obese and a further 14.2% were overweight in England.
• Furthermore, children in Reception (aged 4-5), 9.1% were obese and another 12.8% were
overweight. This means a third of 10-11 year olds and over a fifth of 4-5 year olds were overweight
or obese.
Percentage of children obese and overweight (including obese) in the UK and Ireland
Source: Public Health England,
2015

5. CAUSES OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY
Physical activity,
and activity
environment
Societal
influences
Food
environment
Individual
Psychology
Poverty
Obesity

6. Poverty
• Children in low- and middle-income countries are more vulnerable to inadequate
pre-natal, infant and young child nutrition. At the same time, they are exposed to
high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt, energy-dense, micronutrient-poor foods, which tend
to be lower in cost but also lower in nutrient quality.
Individual Psychology
• Some children overeat to cope with the problem or to deal with emotion, such as
stress or to fight boredom.
Food environment
• The influence of the food environment on an individual's food choices, for example a
decision to eat more fruit and vegetable may be influenced by the availability and
quality of fruit and vegetable near home.

7. Societal influences
•The impact of society, for example the influence of the media, education, peer
pressure or culture.
Physical activity, and activity environment
•Lack of psychical activity play an important part which lead to become obesity.
Children are more exposed to the use of advance technology these days as their
they tend to watch TV, browse the internet or play computer games, and rarely take
regular exercise.
•If the children are not active enough, their not use the energy provided by the food
their eat, and the extra energy their consume is stored by the body as fat.

8. CONCLUSION
• Childhood obesity poses a major public health threat, it is an issue that is one of the most
difficult obstacles assault globally and actions need to be taken in order to reverse the rising
tide of childhood obesity.
• Interventions and policies are important as it helped in reduce the chances to develop a
variety of health problems in upcoming years.

9. REFERENCES
• Ebbeling, C., Pawlak, D. and Ludwig, D. (2014). Childhood obesity: public-health crisis,
common sense cure. [online] http://www.allhealth.org/. Available at:
http://www.allhealth.org/briefingmaterials/lancetobesityrev-393.pdf [Accessed 11 Dec. 2014].
• Mayo Clinic, (2014). Childhood obesity Complications - Diseases and Conditions - Mayo
Clinic. [online] Mayoclinic.org. Available at: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-
conditions/childhood-obesity/basics/complications/con-20027428 [Accessed 6 Dec. 2014].
• Public Health England, (2016). Child Obesity :: Public Health England Obesity Knowledge
and Intelligence team. [online] Noo.org.uk. Available at:
http://www.noo.org.uk/NOO_about_obesity/child_obesity [Accessed 3 Mar. 2016].
• Sameera Karnik, and Amar Kanekar, (2012). Childhood Obesity: A Global Public Health
Crisis. International Journal of Preventive Medicine, [online] 3(1), p.1. Available at:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3278864/#ref17 [Accessed 10 Dec. 2014].
• Swanton, K. (2008). HealtHy weigHt, HealtHy lives: a toolkit for developing local strategies.
[online] Faculty of Public Health. Available at:
http://www.fph.org.uk/uploads/full_obesity_toolkit-1.pdf [Accessed 3 Mar. 2016].
• World Health Organization, (2015). WHO | Childhood overweight and obesity. [online]
Who.int. Available at: http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/childhood/en/ [Accessed 5
March. 2015].