...AP Photo/LisA BiLLings Confronting America’s Childhood Obesity Epidemic How the Health Care Reform Law Will Help Prevent and Reduce Obesity Ellen-Marie Whelan, Lesley Russell, and Sonia Sekhar May 2010 w w w.americanprogress.org Confronting America’s Childhood Obesity Epidemic How the Health Care Reform Law Will Help Prevent and Reduce Obesity Ellen-Marie Whelan, Lesley Russell, and Sonia Sekhar May 2010 Contents 1 Fast Facts on Childhood Obesity 3 Introduction and summary 6 Provisions included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that address childhood obesity 6 Childhood Obesity Demonstration Project 7 Nutrition labeling 7 Community Transformation Grants 9 Broader measures in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to tackle childhood obesity 9 Prevention and public health 15 Primary care and coordination 18 Community-based Care 20 Maternal and child health 22 Research: Doing what works in obesity prevention 23 Data provisions that will help with tracking and providing improved outcomes to measure obesity prevention 25 What else is needed? 27 Beyond health care 29 Conclusion 30 Appendix: The White House Childhood Obesity Initiative 32 Endnotes 34 About the authors Fast Facts on Childhood Obesity Our nation’s children today are on track to have a lower life expectancy than their parents The obesity epidemic poses serious health problems for children including cardiovascular disease,...
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...Application of Epidemiology to Obesity Your Name Dr. Donna Levesque Managerial Epidemiology – HSA 535 Strayer University Assignment 5 June 06, 2012 Abstract This report identifies, analyzes and explains the obesity problem in the United States compared to other countries. It outlines factors and reasoning as to why the obesity rate in the United States is higher than other countries. These report further address points of health care cost, political issues, and proposed policies and laws related to obesity concerns in the United States and in the State of North Carolina. Further strategic efforts toward the prevention of obesity with government support and individual dedication will considerably reduce health care cost, chronic diseases, and the high mortality rates associated with obesity and prolong the overall life expectancy of the country’s population. Key Words: Obesity, Cost, Policy, Rate, Cause Application of Epidemiology to Obesity Over the past decades the U. S. population has experienced a drastic change in their dietary habits and physical activity patterns. These changes have worsened over the years. Their consumption of nutritional food and drinks and their desire to participate in regular activity has declined dramatically. The results of this trend have caused a rise in the obesity rates, chronic disease cases, and health care costs. Sadly but true, the American people are dying at an alarming rate as the result of their...
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...CHILDHOOD OBESITY? Can Breastfeeding in the First Six Months Prevent Childhood Obesity? Introduction Childhood obesity is an issue that has baffled many in the United States and the United Kingdom. Various researchers such as Charlesworth (2013) assert that the trend has significantly increased since the 1960s, an issue that has necessitated further research on the subject .For instance, Akabas et al., (2012) assert that 14 to 16% of 5 years old and 17 to 19% of 19 years old are overweight. This has been necessitated by the fact that the older/obese a child becomes the likelihood that the child will become obese in adulthood (Charlesworth, 2013). Thus, considering this became a matter of global concern. Further, studies have been done to ascertain the probability of a child becoming obese if not breastfed in the first six months. For a thorough comprehension of the topic, it was concluded that it is necessary to explore issues such as defining overweight and obesity for children, genetic predisposition to weight and obesity, behaviours that affect childhood overweight and obesity. Also, how breastfeeding aids in curbing obesity and overweight in children and how the role of a mother and family in preventing obesity and overweight in children is also addressed. Finally, recommendations were made regarding how childhood obesity can be curbed. This paper researches whether breastfeeding can play a critical role in the first six months in curbing childhood obesity. ...
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...are unique to the LGBT people; hence, this will translate into finding the appropriate means of improving the healthcare of the LGBT persons. Slide 2 * Many surveys could benefit from including questions on sexual orientation. * Firstly, the NHIS, which is known to be the primary source of information on the health of the non-institutionalized citizens of the U.S by offering the relevant data to track the progress to achieving national health goals. * Secondly, the BRFSS (CDC 2012b) is a mobile -based survey of grown-ups that is conducted by social workers and sponsored by CDC. Its aim is to acquire information on risky health behaviors, access to health facilities for individuals with chronic illnesses and injuries, and preventive practices. * In this survey, just about 11 states usually ask their respondents regarding their sexual orientation. *...
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...Place matters in the United States. Access to affordable high-quality healthcare depends upon where you live. Throughout rural America, nearly 50 million people face challenges in accessing health care. The past several decades have consistently shown higher rates of poverty, mortality, and limited access to a primary health care provider in rural areas. With the recent economic downturn, there is potential for an increase in many of the healthcare disparities and access concerns that are already elevated in rural communities. High poverty rates and job loss in the current economic recession highlight the challenges of accessing health care and rising health care costs in rural areas. Rates of poverty are higher, with fifteen percent of people in rural areas living below the poverty level compared to twelve percent of people in urban areas. The rural economy is dominated by small businesses, which are struggling as the cost of healthcare continues to skyrocket. In the current recession, the rural economy is losing jobs at a faster rate than the rest of the nation, and loss of jobs can lead to loss of healthcare coverage. In particular, rural communities dependent on manufacturing have lost nearly five percent of their jobs since the recession began. Many rural residents work part-time, seasonally, or for themselves, making them less likely to have private, employer-sponsored health care benefits. Research shows that ninety percent of farmers have insurance coverage;...
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...Childhood obesity has grown into an epidemic within the last 30 years. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2011), “7% of children were considered obese in the U.S. in 1980, and by 2008, it was nearly 20%. Additionally, the incidence of obesity among adolescent children, aged 12-19 years, grew from 5% to 18% over the same time period” (CDC, 2011). Coincidentally, over the past 30 years, more parents are working, not only every day, but longer hours, and in many cases both parents are working. Is the rat race killing our kids? There is an epidemic of parents who are too tired or lazy to engage their children, and have begun relying on the T.V., computers, or video games to occupy and entertain them. Also, the evolution of new technology has children involved with a screen of some sort, whether it’s a T.V., video game, cell phone, computer, etc, hence researchers have coined the term, “screen time.” This behavior of instant gratification has created an environment of sedentary behavior, as well as fostering a lack of personal interaction with others. The increase in screen time has become a normal way for parents to occupy their children while they are busy doing tasks of their own or resting after a long day at work. This paper will show that as a society, everyone should be proactive, take responsibility, and offer support and encouragement to promote appropriate physical activity in children. Children must be shown that there are more things to do outside...
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...Current and Future Economic Issues Impacting Healthcare Sector S. Ruff Dr. Merle Point-Johnson HAS 510 June 15, 2015 Abstract Not unpredictably, the increases in health care spending and the share of GDP dedicated to health care have raised up concerns about the negative influence of health care cost inflation on the U.S. economy. In an era of global economic markets, these concerns are reinforced by the status of the U.S. as a spending outlier among competing nations. The major concern is that rapid increases in health care spending can affect major economic indicators such per capita GDP, employment and inflation. The effects are likely to occur across all sectors of the economy, governments, businesses and households as all these interrelated sectors play an important role in the delivery, financing and consumption of health care in the US. Yet, the view that rapidly rising health care costs harms the U.S. economy is not without nonconformists, and some projecting economists opinion increases in health spending as having a neutral, or perhaps even a positive, economic effect. Pauly (2003) has contended that increasing health care expenditure naturally consequences in rapid growth in the health care and associated sectors, and in employment and incomes for workers in those sectors. Particularly, health care firms are largely U.S. owned. A related argument is that as total per capita GDP rises, consumers may choose...
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...problematic in health care because markets do not provide goods efficiently or equitably. Though markets usually work well, however, there are many circumstances in which market forces, left to them, will fail to maximize economic and social welfare, and, as a consequence, there will be a case for government interventions (Hayes, et al., 2011). Its primary goal is to limit the high price-cost margins that would otherwise be expected (Folland, Goodman, & Stano, 2010), along with promoting the best minimal quality levels while reducing waste and abuse of expenditures. Recent review from Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews identified four main categories of market failure that might justify government intervention: intervention externalities; imperfect information; demerit goods; time-inconsistent preferences (a situation in which an individual’s preferences change over time without any change in information (Hayes, et al., 2011). An example of demerit good is something that is seen as intrinsically unhealthy, degrading or socially damaging towards other people or society at large once consumed (Hayes, et al., 2011) (i.e., tobacco, alcohol, and gambling). An article from Obesity Reviews looked at obesity as catalyst for justification. First, to promote equity, assessments of bias against the obese in the provision of health care or in the labor market need to be identified. Second, such intervention may be...
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...Obesity: A Global Epidemic Introduction This analysis dives deep into the rising trend of obesity, and is designed to juxtapose the actions of McDonald’s corporation and the increasing trend of consumer preference of organic, healthy products. The market of food consumers is becoming increasingly health-focused although the simultaneous increases in obesity in almost all countries seem to be driven mainly by changes in the global food system, which is producing more processed, affordable, and effectively marketed food than ever before (Swinburn, 137). If fast-food chains such as McDonald’s ignore these changes in consumer knowledge and preferences, they will not survive the onslaught of other, new companies who now seek to bring fast, healthy food to the consumer’s table. Many of the labels that Label Print Technologies (LPT) produces are for smaller, organic food manufacturers who seek to bring a healthy product to their customers. The growth of the organic product industry has created large areas of growth in many different industries; the label industry is ripe for the picking and LPT is ready to act. Where once there were big manufacturers looking to have hundreds of thousands of labels produced at once, there are now smaller, health-focused companies looking for more intricately designed labels to adorn their high quality products, and not necessarily in mass quantity. Obesity is defined as fat accumulation that may impair health. The World Health Organization...
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...Course Project Anise Hutcherson Approaches to Disease Management in Managed Care DeVry University `12/11/15 Table of Contents 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………….. Page 3 2. Background…………………………………………………………….. Page 4 3. The Challenges and Problems Associated with Disease Management…….. Page 6 4. Review of the Research and Literature…………………………………… Page 8 5. Challenges/Problems Analysis with Disease Management……………….... Page 9 6. Recommend Solutions of Improvements in Disease Management…………..Page 10 7. Implementation of Solutions in Disease Management in Managed Care Industry..Page 11 8. Justification………………………………………………………………… Page 12 9. Summary and Conclusion…………………………………………………...Page 14 10. Works Cited-References………………………………………………….. Page 16 Introduction It is very well known how most physicians or healthcare facilities and organizations handle diseases in our society in my opinion. Managed care for diseases are mostly not focused on, it is for large populations. But typically physicians do try to focus on individuals however once you throw MCO in the mix it becomes similar to a farmer caring for cattle which I hate to say. And I am very much passionate about this subject because of my experience in the very arena. Before I had a stable job with wonderful health insurance, I relied on government paid insurance for a minute and during that time I was diagnosed with Lupus which is a autoimmune disease with no cure. However...
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...Health Care Reform for Children Valerie L. Briner HCAD 620 Professor Schutz Abstract Advancing toward universal health care has the possibility to improve access to care and better the health and wellbeing of uninsured children. This paper will discuss children and what medical coverage they may have and how healthcare reform should help get almost all children some type of healthcare. Currently, if a child is not covered under private insurance, Medicaid and CHIP can assist in covering the vulnerable groups, mostly because they are likely to be poor, belong to racial or ethnic minority groups or who have chronic health care problems. While both public and private insurance fail in meeting the needs of children, public coverage has been more persuasive than private coverage at providing managed health care to low-income children. Ideally health care reform could cause certain steps to promote the emotional, cognitive, and physical health of children, enable them to maximize their full potential. Such a focus would create application to such policy changes that could define solutions for failures in the current system and decrease discrepancy in access, quality, and outcomes. Healthcare Reform for Children The plan is set in place to overhaul the nation’s health care system. The goals of the health care reform proposals include moving the nation toward universal coverage, improving quality of care, and slowing the rate of...
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...ARNOTT’S, AUSTRALIA Executive summary: This paper consists of the product launch plan for Arnott snacks Australia for the woman segment as a healthy snack option. Table of Content Executive Summary 1.Introduction 2. Situation analysis 3. Justification for product launch: 4. Market segment(s) to be targeted & the planned positioning strategy 5. Demand estimate 6. Marketing mix strategy 7. Conclusion Reference 1. Introduction This paper is about the product launch by Arnotts which is one of the most reputed company in the Australian snacks market and largest in Asia-pacific region. The company has been serving its client with various snacks options from last 144 years. This is part of day to day lives of millions of people in Australia. The company’s website claims that “It is the icon of the Australia. Millions of Australians have grown up with ARNOTT’S during the past 144 years. This company has an efficient access throughout the Australia.” The strategic approach and innovative products have helped the company in maintaining the financial stability in its target markets. The company employs more than 2600 people at various positions in the form of direct employment. The expenditure on the Australian biscuits and snacks for the company is more than $350 million. Company has invested above $27 million for buying new ovens and equipments at one of its bakery in South Australia. The other investment was done in ARNOTT’S Huntingwood bakery in New South...
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...will elaborate on the ways foods deserts are defined and what affect it has on the health and well being of cultural families and communities. Table of Contents Page Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………………...2 Table of Contents ………………………………………………………………………………....3 Chapter One Context of the Problem ……………………………………………………………………......5-10 Statement of the Problem ……………………………………………………………………10-16 Research Questions ……………………………………………………………………………...16 Significance of the Study ……………………………………………………………………16-19 Objective of Study …………………………………………………………………………...19-20 Research Design and Methodology ……………………………………………………………..20 Materials ………………………………………………………………………………………...20 Organization of the Study………………………………………………………………………..21 Limitation of Study ……………………………………………………………………………...21 Chapter Two Review of Literature ……………………………………………………………………………22 Chapter Three What are the definition and the importance of Food Deserts? …………………………………26 Chapter Four How do obesity and other health issues associate itself with ‘food Deserts’? …………………27 Chapter Five What are the links to a healthy community and Food Deserts? ………………………………..29...
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...health 2. Literature review of the evidence i) Major chronic diseases ii) Mental health iii) Whole-life benefits of physical activity iv) Recommended levels of physical activity v) Socioeconomic disparities Part II: Evidence supporting interventions to encourage physical activity 1. The scale of the problem 2. An active environment? 3. Behaviour change 4. Selected interventions Part III: Case studies 1. Introduction 2. What makes for best practice? 3. Case studies Appendix 1: Selected literature on the health benefits of physical activity Appendix 2: Physical activity interventions Appendix 3: Evidence for the benefits of specific activities Endnotes 3 4 4 5 5 6 7 7 9 10 10 10 11 12 15 15 15 16 21 24 27 28 2 Review: The benefits of physical activity on health and well-being www.c3health.org Overview The purpose of this review is to provide a snapshot of the scientific evidence of the benefits of physical activity on health and well-being, focusing particularly on the prevention of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs – also often referred to as chronic diseases), and to present case studies of ‘what works’ in different settings and contexts. Part I provides the evidence supporting the benefits of physical activity on health and well-being and, together with detailed tables in Appendix 1, forms a literature review...
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...CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE IN AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN Richard Allen Williams, M.D. Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine President/CEO, Minority Health Institute, Los Angeles, California Introduction Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has long been considered a disorder which principally affects men in our society; consideration of the occurrence of heart attacks in females, for example, has been largely an afterthought. In the past few years, however, it has become increasingly obvious that this is not a problem limited to males, but that it occurs with great frequency in women. We now know that CVD is the cause of death more than any condition in women over the age of 50, including cancer (1) and in fact is responsible for more than a third of all deaths in women (2). It is estimated that 370,000 women in the United States die from heart disease each year. However, our knowledge base regarding CVD in African American (AA) women has not kept pace with the accumulation of data on white females. Thus, there is a deficit of information about this subgroup and the prevalence of CVD despite the fact that black women have more risk factors for CVD than do white women (3). The purpose of this paper is to review the subject of CVD in African American women and to focus upon four principal CVD categories: Coronary artery disease (CAD), hypertension, stroke, and congestive heart failure (CHF).The impact of gender and race on each of these...
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