Paper Example on 3 Million Perish Annually: The Growing Epidemic of Obesity

Introduction

Worldwide, reports have indicated that almost three million people perish each year due to health issues associated with obesity. For example, excess body weight is closely associated with type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Obesity becomes a global pandemic for the last 30 years because it has contributed much to an increase in cases of non-communicable diseases.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Childhood obesity has become one of the growing epidemic issues, especially in most of the developing countries. According to the WHO report, between 0.5% to 15 of the children become overweight each year. Out of this number, around 32% become overweight, and 8% become obese. International Obese Taskforce has also indicated that 10% of those children aging 5 to 7 years have excess body fat due to unhealthy diet. The reports have also highlighted that children with obese are usually prone to multiple complications like hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, respiratory complaints, stroke, specific cancers, and gastrointestinal complications.

The Eastern Mediterranean part of the World Health Organization is one of the areas that are worst hit by this pandemic. The increasing cases of obesity in these countries affect both children and adults. The obesity and overweight prevalence in this area remain above the world average. The 2014 report indicated that 50.1% of the cases were women and 43.8% being men. The increasing and worrying statistics of cases of obesity in this region involves children. The 2014 report indicated that around 6.9% of the children were already overweight. More so, there are more than 43 million people from the Eastern Mediterranean region who lives with diabetes.

The Eastern Mediterranean areas have become a hotspot concerning the overweight and obesity cases for an extended period. Research has indicated that the changing dietary patterns have contributed to a great extent to the escalating burden of overweight, diabetes, and obesity in the region. Women are more affected compared to women. Another worrying fact is that expectant women who are obese can easily pass health-related complications to the children. Research has linked the rise in obesity cases with diets. According to reports, dietary factors result in an unhealthy gain of weight in the body, which can easily attract type 2 diabetes disease. The high intake of free sugars, fatty acid, sugary drinks, and fiber-rich foods increases the chances of becoming obese.

For the past 15 years, and accumulated evidence has linked various types of foods with overweight and obesity. Some of these diets include high saturated sugars, free sugars, and trans-fatty acids, among others. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the Eastern Mediterranean countries that has been by the pandemic. The prevalence of overweight among the children in the UAE has currently doubled the global incidence. In this region, one out of every three school-going children is already overweight. Sources have indicated that there are multiple food choices and little knowledge concerning the effects of these foods on the nationals. This situation contributes to consumption of unhealthy foods, which contributes to the increased rates of overweight and obesity, especially in children. According to the report from the World Health Organization, UAE is currently the second largest in the world regarding the rates of obesity. These cases, especially among the youth, usually affect them at an older age. Some of the common diseases which affect the nationals of this country include cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and type-2 cancer, among others.

The increasing cases of the disease in the UAE are therefore associated with diets and lack of knowledge concerning the effects of certain foods. Generally, the country was ranked as the fattest in the world, with an average of 68.3% of its population being overweight. This high rate of obesity cases in the UAE cannot be overlooked or under-estimated because the effects of obesity are sometimes deadly. There is, therefore, a need to study the dietary situation in this country and how it can be linked to the obesity rates in the country. In case the relationship between obesity and foods in UAE is positive and strong, then, best recommendations could be provided on how to manage the diets within the country. In case there are other factors, suggestions for further research can also be made based on evidence. This way, the obesity pandemic can be controlled in the UAE.

The Eastern Mediterranean region has the highest number of cases of diabetes in the world. Over 43 million people in the area live with diabetes, a situation which can result in the development of cardiovascular diseases, loss of vision, leg amputation, early death, kidney failure, and nerve damage. The reports already indicate that about 10% of the adult women death and 9% of adult male death is a result of an increase in blood sugars. These figures can quickly increase if serious measures are not undertaken. Unfortunately, there have been high subsidies on sugary foods in the East Mediterranean region. More so, foods eaten in public social places like schools, hospitals, prisons, universities, government buildings, residential care homes, armed forces camps, and other public-funded venues can easily be controlled. Also, WHO has proposed healthy food procurement policies in these countries. WHO has also recommended for mass media campaigns aiming at raising public awareness concerning the diet in the region. Other proposed measures include tax reformation, body exercise, marketing strategies that discourage the sale of unhealthy foods, education, and creation of public awareness, change in food procurement laws, labeling, mass media campaigns, breastfeeding, evidence-based community interventions, mass media campaigns, interventions by health sector among other strategies. According to WHO, no single intervention can halt or completely eliminate obesity cases. There is, therefore, a need to completely alter the obesogenic environment by addressing major causes of the disease in a coordinated manner. The report by various sources indicated that the prevalence of obesity cases among the children had been primarily contributed by the power of marketing in the region. Food operators have invested heavily in marketing in the East Mediterranean region through packaging, marketing in schools, sponsorship, using celebrities as brand ambassadors, use of radio, television, and social media platforms, among other innovative ways.

Why I Think the Topic is of Major Significance

This topic is very critical because it highlights a problem that affects the entire world. Obesity and overweight is a global pandemic and cannot be underestimated. More so, UAE and its neighboring countries have recorded more than double the cases of obesity compared to other parts of the world. Therefore, there is a need for an urgent solution to this pandemic experienced in the region. The deadly outcomes of obesity and overweight might increase sharply in these countries if immediate measures are not undertaken. Therefore, diet being the primary cause of obesity, needs serious consideration. This research would seek to investigate the problem of unhealthy foods and their relationship to the increasing obesity, overweight, and diet-related diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and cancer in UAE and neighboring countries.

The research would also assist the governments of these countries in gauging the effectiveness of the measures already undertaken to control the growing number of obesity cases. The study would also enable the governments to determine the citizen's level of awareness about unhealthy diets so that awareness programs can be created.

The government would determine the specific types of foods that are widely consumed by the population to decide which foods to discourage based on health standards. These measures can include the closure of marketing channels for the meals, increase taxes on the products, and reduction of incentives. More so, the research would determine whether the prevalence of health complications like diabetes, hypertension, and cancers experienced in the country can be linked with overweight and diabetes. The government would also determine whether extensive marketing of foods in schools and other places contributes to increased cases of obesity among the children so that appropriate policies to control the marketing of unhealthy foods can be created and implemented.

The research questions I have identified and would like my Ph.D. to answer

To what extent are measures undertaken by governments of the UAE and neighboring countries effective in addressing the problem of obesity and overweight?

What are the specific types of unhealthy diets widely consumed by the population in the UAE and neighboring countries?

Is there any significant relationship between advertisements for foods and the growing numbers of obesity and overweight cases among the children in the UAE and neighboring countries?

Could the prevalence of health complications like diabetes, hypertension, and cancers experienced in UAE and neighboring countries be linked with overweight and obesity?

Why I think I am well placed to undertake this research

Having conducted extensive research on overweight, obesity, and related complications, especially in the UAE and the entire East Mediterranean region, I feel I can provide a reliable and comprehensive study concerning the topic. My research would involve primary data from samples collected in the UAE and the neighboring countries as well as secondary data from the WHO website related to the topic. More so, government websites would be used to acquire information on various policies that have already been undertaken to control obesity and the overweight situation in these countries. I would also utilize multiple works of literature (scholarly, WHO reports, etc.) to extract the information and the research regarding the study topic. Therefore, my recommendations would be very reliable and practical and would be useful by both government and non-governmental organizations in addressing the already worrying number of overweight cases in the UAE and neighboring countries. Other countries will also find my study useful in treating similar situations. Therefore, with all this background knowledge concerning the topic plus my long experience in conducting research, I feel I am best suited in undertaking this research.

Bibliography

Belal, Abdelrahim Mutwakel. "Nutrition-related chronic diseases Epidemic in UAE: can we stand to STOP it?." Sudanese Journal of Public Health 4, no. 4 (2009): 383-392.

Kumanyika, S., Libman, K., and Garcia, A., 2013. Strategic action to combat the obesity epidemic. Report of the Obesity Working Group, 2013.

Gostin, Lawrence O., H. Abou-Taleb, S. A. Roache, and A. Alwan. "Legal priorities for prevention of...