Essay About Increasing Prevalence Of Youth Obesity And Private Bag

Obesity
Essay Preview: Obesity
Report this essay
Health Promotion in the Pacifi c Vol 14 No 2. Sep 2007
Pacifi c Health Institutions
The Pacifi c OPIC Project (Obesity
Prevention In Communities) –
Objectives and designs
David Schaaf******, Robert Scragg*******
*Professor, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria
3125, Australia. Email [email protected] ** Dr Fiji School of Medicine, Suva, Fiji. Ph +679 323 3401, email
[email protected]. ***Professor School of Psychology, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Melbourne, Australia
3125. Email [email protected]. **** Associate Professor School of Population Health, 207 Bouverie St, The
University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia 3010. Email [email protected]. ***** Associate Professor, Department
of Epidemiology, Monash University, Commercial Rd, Melbourne, Australia. Email [email protected].
edu.au. ******Email [email protected]. *******Associate Professor School of Population Health, University of
Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand. Email [email protected]
Abstract
Background: Evidence on how to reduce the increasing prevalence of youth obesity is urgently needed in many countries.
The Pacifi c OPIC Project (Obesity Prevention In Communities) is a series of linked studies in four countries (Fiji, Tonga,
New Zealand, Australia) which is designed to address this important problem.
Objectives: The studies aim to: 1) determine the overall impact of comprehensive, community-based intervention programs
on overweight/obesity prevalence in youth; 2) assess the feasibility of the specifi c intervention components and
their impacts on eating and physical activity patterns; 3) understand the socio-cultural factors that promote obesity and
how they can be infl uenced; 4) identify the effects of food-related policies in Fiji and Tonga and how they might be
changed; 5) estimate the overall burden of childhood obesity (including loss of quality of life); 6) estimate the costs (and
cost-effectiveness) of the intervention programs, and; 7) increase the capacity for obesity prevention research and action
in Pacifi c populations.
Design: The community studies use quasi-experimental designs with impact and outcome assessments being measured
in over 14,000 youth across the intervention and control communities in the four sites. The multi-strategy, multi-setting
interventions will run for 3 years before fi nal follow up data are collected in 2008. The interventions are being informed
by socio-cultural studies that will determine the family and societal infl uences on food intake, physical activity and body
size perception.
Progress and conclusions: Baseline studies have been completed and interventions are underway. Despite the many
challenges in implementing and evaluating community-based interventions, especially in the Pacifi c, the OPIC Project
will provide rich evidence about what works and what does not work for obesity prevention in youth from European and
Pacifi c backgrounds.
Background
The obesity epidemic is rapidly increasing in both developed
and developing countries1. Of particular concern is its hold
in Pacifi c populations. The Pacifi c region has the highest rates
of obesity in the world2, yet the capacity to respond to the
epidemic is very limited.
Prevalence rates for
overweight and obesity
(body mass index, BMI
>25kg/m2) are as high as
75% in Nauru, Samoa,
American Samoa, Cook
Islands, Tonga and French
Polynesia3. The Pacifi c
populations living in New
Zealand also have extremely high prevalence rates (~80%)
compared to the European population (~50%)4. The impact
of obesity on non-communicable diseases, especially
diabetes, is correspondingly enormous and increasing 1 with
overweight and obesity ranked as the 7th leading cause of
avoidable burden for 2010 and 20205.
Obesity prevention has, therefore, been recognised as a
high priority by the World Health Organization (WHO) in
the latest World Health Report5, successive Pacifi c Health
Forums and other Pacifi c Consultations6, 7, and Australian
and New Zealand health authorities8-11 for at least the last 10
years. However, it is only
recently that governments
have been seeking evidence
on what works and does not
work for obesity prevention
and unfortunately this is
very limited. Systematic
reviews