6HL006 Aprainsing health policy and practice Medicine, Nursing Essay

APPRAISING HEALTH POLICY AND PRACTICE
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Appraising Health Policy and Practice
Introduction
A health policy can be comprehensively defined as specific decisions, plans, and actions that are taken with the aim of achieving a particular health outcome among the public. The health policy that will be discussed in the paper is the promotion of fitness ad physical activity in communities. Presently, there is a rise in the number of individuals suffering from lifestyle diseases and who need critical attention. The increase in the population of such individuals is reflective of the poor habits they have developed over the years (Morgen and Sørensen 2014, p.54). Admittedly, conditions related to lack of physical fitness have resulted in an increased healthcare cost, which has affected the general healthcare industry. In response, relevant bodies have taken the initiative to come up with a broad array of health policies as an answer to this problem. Promoting physical fitness in communities is the surest way with the healthcare sector has initiated a response to the deteriorating health conditions and preventing the vulnerable from falling victim (Morgen and Sørensen 2014, p.54). Encouraging people to involve in physical activities, in addition to eating healthy, has worked for various countries around the world and has therefore been taken as an authoritative means of responding to the health issues related to lack of physical fitness.
Health Issue
Overweight and obesity are health problems that have witnessed increased growth in the recent past. The terms overweight and obesity are used to describe a weight that is greater than what health standards consider normal for a particular height, and is caused by the excess accumulation of fats in the body. A person who is overweight is vulnerable to a plethora of diseases, which can pose a significant danger to their lives. In worst-case scenarios, it can lead to the death of an individual. The standard method of measuring obesity and overweight is body mass index (BMI). Body mass index is one’s weight in kilograms divided by their height in meters. 18.5 to 24.9 is the ideal BMI range for adults (Morgen and Sørensen 2014, p.54). The BMI calculation of children aged between two and eighteen often consider a plethora of factors, including age, gender, height, and weight. According to the world health organization, individuals with a BMI of 25 or more are considered overweight (Morgen and Sørensen 2014, p.54). At the same time, those whose BMI record hits 30 or more are considered obese.
Cases of obesity seem to be on the rise by the day. For instance, in 2016 alone, more than 1.9 billion adults were registered as overweight, and a third of this number was obese (Krebs et al. 2017, p.228). It is evident how this huge population costs the healthcare system huge amounts of money. In percentages, 39% and 40% of men and women respectively were found to be overweight in the United States. Across the world, the world health organization has recorded that 13% of individuals world-over were registered as suffering from obesity (Krebs et al. 2017, p.228). Even more worrying is that the preval...