Question

Identifying the problem... Obesity and it's consequences (i.e obesogenic environment and politics of obesity)

Health communication and Health Marketing (i.e social marketing and target marketing) pertaining to obesity

Answer 1

Obesity is an epidemic disease which has threatens to inundate health care resources by increasing the incidence of several diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and cancer. Obesity has now become a chronic disease in the same sense such as hypertension and atherosclerosis. The major causing factor of the obesity is imbalance between taken energy in the form of foods and the energy spent. The excess amount of taken energy is stored in fat cells which increase in number. The enlarged fat cells produce the several clinical complications which are associated with obesity in the form of extra weight or mass of fat. These consequence plat vital role for the generations of several other diseases such as diabetes mellitus, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, cardiovascular related disease and cancer.

Now it is very clear that obesity has become a global disease which already effects everyone directly or indirectly. And the obesity is preventable therefore we can reverse the trends that led to the current epidemic by making changes in different public awareness policies and practices.

Health communication and Health Marketing

There are various awareness programmes has been organised through different seminars and symposium to initiate an ongoing national dialogue on coordination of obesity prevention efforts among governments and non?government organisations in various countries.

The major objectives for these programmes are:

• To identify the challenges and primary policy areas in overweight and obesity prevention which may be influenced by effective social marketing
• To explore in the global level the most effective methods for obesity through social marketing
• To explore effective mechanisms to achieve national strategic alignment of social marketing initiatives in obesity prevention in government and NGO sectors.

Several significant initiatives were taken toward the awareness and prevention of obesity in various countries. There are 60 social marketing and public health professionals are working from Commonwealth, state and territory health departments, non?government organisations, academia and industry.

Several mass media campaigns are going on against obesity which is mostly designed to impact at the large number of audiences. The audience are selected based on the demographic characteristics such as age, gender, occupation etc., and not taking into account psychographics like behaviour, motivations, wants, etc. For the healthcare campaign, which can be segments and have the best chance of being converted into healthy lifestyle at the lowest cost.