An Epidemic Of Obesity In Papua New Guinea

OBESITY IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Obesity is one of the immense problem of lifestyle disease as far as health is concerned. What is obesity? Medically obesity is simply defined as the build-up or accumulation of excessive fats in the adipose tissue of the human body. Due to the continuous build-up which result in weight gain and causing disability at the physiological level. This essay will discuss the five aspects of obesity which are; Result of statistical analysis, Extent of obesity among adults and children, the cost, the cause and the measure to tackle and addressing obesity. Different points of views are taken into consideration that outlines a balanced discussion about obesity but elaborate specifically in Papua New Guinea Papua (PNG) context.

According to the first source (WHO, 2003) In addition, according to the second source (Pus, Moriyama, Uno, & Rahman, 2016), it talks about the study procedures that are carried out in PNG to identify obesity in the nation. The study was done in Port Moresby. It elaborates more on the study techniques and skills that the researcher used during the analysis of the statistics. Furthermore, according to the third source (Pus et al., 2016) imply that the contributing factors of obesity are; less physical movement, unhealthy diet, lifestyle, low education, social system and cultural value system according to the interview and statistics.

People in the community are not educated because Government initiatives and strategies are not firm enough to educate and improve people lifestyle. To prevent obesity and its complications, study suggests developing a strong coordination among every stakeholder to make sure best education and increase awareness with strong commitment to the standard health policies and strategies are also recommended at the local, national and even globally. Moreover, according to (WHO, 2003) outline the severe changes through the way people behaved in their respective communities and society depict the increasing epidemic.

Genes also plays a very important role in determining weight gain by individual. Aspect such as economic growth, modernization, urbanization, and globalization of food staff in the marketing sectors some of the force factor of obesity. Rise in income and populations become more urban, people consumed more different diets with a higher proportion of fats, saturated fats and sugars. At the same time, reduced or even lack in physical exercises. All factors were categorized into five main areas which are; behavioural, environmental, biological, cultural value system and some people link both obesity and data. However, according to (WHO, 2003) it explain why in PNG society some people may see obesity as the healthy way of life in terms of cultural value by stating their own reasons to go for it. Due to such cultural value system which placed a demand in the food consumption.

Having that mentality in mind people choose to eat as plenty of food as they could such as fats and other food staffs especially for growing body so that in turn they can grow as big and fat as they could and can be respected in their respective society and community as the leader or person with great value. These are the food that they choose to consumed such as foods containing high levels of sugar and saturated fats and poor nutrition, increased intake of more energy-concentrated food and lack of physical activity but some of the severe consequences of obesity related risk are; diet-related chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and stroke cardiovascular disease, etc. The overall quality of life is reduced because of chronic condition.I

n contrast, according to (Pus et al., 2016) it clarify the concept about PNG society is that a person with excessive fats (obese) is respected as the leader and even seen as beautiful and attractive whereas the skinny ones are treated as less respected, discriminated, powerless and isolated. In the event of community gatherings and discussion the skinny ones missed out because they were termed as the victim of diseases such as HIV/AIDS and so ford. According to (Morais Macieira, Saraiva, & Santos, 2017) as spelt it out clearly that most felt a sleep after eating too much. There is a limited choice of daily food items, therefore, many people eat mostly lamb, beef, chicken and chips. And even lack in knowledge people finds it hard to easily comprehended the nutritional label on the package of the food.

Most people are still confused about the required calorie intake and mal-effects of a huge quantity of greasy food and soft drinks. These all comes down to the root factor which is the lack of government attention in providing basic health services program such as awareness, etc. that results in unhealthy population. On the contrary, According to (National Department of Health Papua New Guinea, 2012) it states that some of PNG citizen in favour of obesity, at the same time, they also regard obesity as the health problem but the fact is studies has reviled and proven that obesity is unhealthy simply because of the so many critical health related problems. Even when looking at different direction it does have some other effects such as the life expectancy of people is reduced; unexpected death in age 50s” is suggested and believed that untreated cardiovascular disease could be unknown. There are several studies that revealed the link between overweight and infected with chronic disease. Ultimately, highest rate of chronic diseases in PNG could be expected on the reasons of obesity and overweight according to (Maria & Evagelia, 2009).

To sum up with respect to the five different sources as analysed and discussed, it implies that obesity is really an epidemic in Papua New Guinea (PNG). It outlines factors that contributed towards obesity, the possible causes and their effects in terms of disease. According to (Pus et al., 2016) conclude that Papua New Guinea PNG health systems are very weak and no standard strategies were implemented when compare to other countries around the world. The major influencing factor of obesity in Papua New Guinea (PNG) according to studies is due to the cultural value system. Having all these sources of information it gives details and comprehensive information about the possible causes and outcomes of the title which is ‘’obesity in Papua New Guinea (PNG)’’.

References:

1. Maria, P., & Evagelia, S. (2009). Obesity disease. Health Science Journal, 3(3), 132–138.
2. Morais Macieira, L. M., Saraiva, J. M. T. L. A., & Santos, L. C. (2017). Overweight and obesity and their associated factors among early adolescence school children in urban and rural Portugal. BMC Nutrition, 3, 17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40795-017-0134-6
3. National Department of Health Papua New Guinea. (2012). Standard treatment guidelines for common illness of adults in Papua New Guinea.
4. Pus, A., Moriyama, M., Uno, M., & Rahman, M. M. (2016). Identifying Factors of Obesity in Papua New Guinea: A Descriptive Study. Health, 08(14), 1616–1629. https://doi.org/10.4236/health.2016.814158
5. WHO. (2003). Obesity and Overweight. Global Strateg on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730903279694
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