How obesity is measured and what the government is doing about obesity in New Zealand!

Following on from my previous blog entry where I explained why obesity is an issue and what causes obesity. I am now going too briefly talk about how obesity is actually measured and then discuss what the government is doing about obesity in New Zealand.

The Ministry of Health (2011) state that obesity is measured by body mass index and is used to categorise underweight, overweight and obesity. They state that if you have a body mass index greater than 30 per cent you are classed as obese. “BMI is a measure of weight adjusted for height and is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in metres squared (kg/m2)” (Ministry of Health, 2011, para. 6). Stanton and Hills (2004) back this by stating that a way of measuring and assessing obesity in humans “uses a formula that includes calculating BMI from height and weight as well as measuring waist and skinfold thickness” (p. 11).

Government tackling obesity in New Zealand

In attempting to tackle rising numbers of obesity Franco, Michele, Jeremy and Dan (2009) state that "many governments have implemented a range of policies to promote healthy lifestyles" (para. 1). It was jointly anaylised by the OECD and the WHO as they aimed to strengthen their evidence-base information in regards to tackle unhealthy lifestyles. The analyis was aimed to be completed at a cost-effictive price. It was also aimed at "assessing the efficiency of a range of policy options to tackle unhealthy lifestyles and related chronic diseases" (Franco et al., 2009, para. 1).

Following are a few perspectives from different parties about what the government is doing about obesity in New Zealand.

In 2009 the green party stressed to the government that New Zealand’s obesity rate was the third highest in the nation. Sue Kedgley the Green Party Health Spokesperson stressed that obesity was a big issue in New Zealand and that the government needs to do something about it. They need to make fighting obesity one of their main priorities. Kedgley (2009) states that “it is estimated that there are over 8000 preventable deaths a year related to poor nutrition and obesity and the annual cost of obesity and diabetes to the health system has been estimated at $900 million dollars” (para. 6). In her report she stresses that it is just common sense that the government needs to spend more money on preventing illness. Kedgley (2009) states that if the government spends more money on preventing illness it will save money “in the long run by stopping serious conditions developing that require people to be hospitalized at great expense to the tax payer” (Kedgley, 2009, para. 7).

So what Sue Kedgley is saying is that if the government spends more time and money focusing on the health of New Zealanders there will be less of our tax money spent on hospitals, which I feel is a fair enough argument. But before we get too much into that I found in the Health Targets booklet that they are working towards health targets that will increase the chance of diabetes and reduce “avoidable hospital admissions” (Minister of Health, 2007, p. 38). They will measure the progress by reporting back to the DHB and to the government. The Minister of Health (2007) state that focusing on health inequalities will benefit all New Zealanders “where avoidable illness is reduced, costs are reduced, not only for hospital services but also for whānau members and employers” (Minister of Health, 2007, p. 39). Which I feel is a great direction to be going towards as the less sick people our country has the less stress it will put on family's, employers and hospitals as healthy people can make stronger contributions to New Zeland society.

But as I was reading more into this topic I came across the following information;
In 2010 Rebecca Todd put out an article about the governments lack of action on obesity. Todd (2010) also stated that New Zealand was the third most ranked obese nation in the world. As you may know from my previous blog entry that obesity causes many health conditions and this will leave hospitals over flowing with seriously ill people. “Experts believed obesity was the biggest health problem facing the nation, with a cost to the health system estimated at $500 million a year” (Todd, 2010, para. 4). In 2009 Health Minister “Tony Ryall dropped nutrition and physical activity from the Government's health targets” (Todd, 2010, para. 5). In 2009 the government also “axed funding for the Obesity Action Coalition, Healthy Eating Healthy Action regional co-ordinators and the healthy food in schools programme” (Todd, 2010, para. 6). Dr Robyn Toomath who is Fight the Obesity Epidemic spokeswoman states that “the Government had barely acknowledged obesity as an issue” (Todd, 2010, para. 7). As this infomation is seen as bias because it is from a news paper article from stuff.co.nz website. I have to question do you think that is true? Do you think the government has no clue that obesity is an issue in New Zealand?

As I was exploring more I found the following;

MP David Cunliffe from New Zealand Labour party talks about how the government is serious about attacking obesity in New Zealand. As part of the government’s commitment in attacking obesity they have made fruit available in schools to “57,000 school children and launched the $67 million Mission on Campaign in September 2006 which included guidelines for food services in schools” (Cunliffe, 2007, para. 3). One of their main strategies is to ensure that there is information around to help and remind people about how to eat healthy and healthy living. The government want people to be able to access the right information about staying healthy so they can look after themselves and their families. Cunliffe (2007) states that he is excited about what is planned for the future and states that “a key component for future planning and co-ordination would be the establishment of a cross sectorial ministerial committee to provide leadership and ensure a comprehensive and cohesive approach to the issue was being applied”. Cunliffe (2007) states that the government are committed to long term strategies to attack obesity in New Zealand and was looking forward to “leading a comprehensive and co-ordinated approach that would make a difference to the health of New Zealanders” (Cunliffe, 2007, para. 10).

The New Zealand Government and the Ministry of Health launched a booklet about health targets that they are working towards alongside with the Minister of Health. The health target eight talks about ways to reduce obesity. Target eight is about “improving nutrition, increasing physical activity, reducing obesity” (Minister of Health, 2007, p. lll).

So you might be thinking what are the government and the Minister of Health areas of focus and development for this target?

HEALTHY EATING – “healthy Action (HEHA) strategy is the governments multi-faceted, integrated response to improving nutrition, increasing physical activity and achieving healthy weight for all New Zealanders” (Minister of Health, 2007, p. 29). This includes outcomes and actions aiming on developing change in “food, nutrition and physical activity environments and behaviours” (Minister of Health, 2007, p. 29). It also includes “evaluation that considers the spread, mix and level of implementation effort and approaches; levels of effectiveness in achieving a broad range of the strategy’s intended outcomes; value for money of the strategy overall; and achievement of outcomes for the whole population as well as priory populations” (Minister of Health, 2007, p. 29). It also contains encouraging people to eat more vegetables and fruits. It also involves increasing the rates of woman breast feeding their babies as the Minister of Health (2007) state that research has shown that breast feeding donates positively to infants health an impacts and influences the chance of obesity later in life.

Following on from encouraging healthy eating one of Nationals policies is encouraging healthy lifestyles at school. “

National has out extra funding towards giving more kids the opportunity to participate in sport and physical activity through the kiwi sport programme” (Hamilton, 2011, p. 2). National states that they will carry on to support this programme. As they believe it reduces weight, “waist measurements and improves running ability” (Hamilton, 2011, p. 2). National want to improve and support healthy lifestyles at school as they will continue funding nutrition in schools proving fruit in schools to encourage children to adapt to healthy lifestyles and ensure that children get the best of life.

This brings me to think about obesity in childhood. How big of an issue is obesity in children? Do we need to look after our children as they are our future? I will leave you with this quote from Stranton and Hills (2004) where they state that “excess weight in children is becoming a major problem throughout the world excess weight is now as great a problem as undernutrition” (p. 7).

References

Cunliffe, D. (2007). Beehive.govt.nz – the official website of the New Zealand Government. Government serious about tackling obesity. Retrieved from http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-serious-about-tackling-obesity

Franco, S., Michele, C., Jeremy, L., & Dan, C. (2009). Improving lifestyles, tackling obesity: The health and economic impact of prevention strategies, 1,3-9,12-106(103). Retrieved from ProQuest Central Database.

Hamilton, G. (2011). Policy 2011. Health maternity and child health: Building better public services. Retrieved from http://www.national.org.nz/Policy.aspx

Kedgley, S. (2009). Green party of Aotearoa New Zealand. Report highlight government stupidity on obesity. Retrieved from http://www.greens.org.nz/press-releases/reporthighlights-government-stupidity-obesity

Minister of Health. (2007). Health targets: Moving towards healthier futures 2007/08. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Health.

Stranton, R. & Hills, A. (2004). A matter of fat: Understanding and overcoming obesity in kids. Sydney, Australia: Hazard Press.

Todd, R. (2010). National. Government criticised for lack of action on obesity Retrieved from http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/3907978/Govt-criticised-for-lack-ofaction-on-obesity