Aboriginal Childhood Overweight and Obesity Assignment Sample

Obesity in Aboriginal Children

Obesity has become a major health problem among children in the Australian population. It has unevenly affected the population of Australia. This problem is most seriously affecting aboriginal children. It has majorly affected aboriginal children due to their socio-economic disadvantage. The socio-economic disadvantages include lack of proper food sources associated with financial instability, a lower standard of living due to inappropriate living spaces, poor health care services, and the practice of poor eating habits (Sherriff et al., 2019). The early onset of obesity in aboriginal children has increased the risk of various metabolic disorders originating from a young age. Diabetes is the most common problem that has been reported to be associated with the aboriginal population (Hill et al., 2017). The root cause of this problem is obesity among aboriginal children which increases the risk of diabetes in later stages of life. Hypertension is another problem that is associated with childhood obesity in the aboriginal population (Esler et al., 2016). The prevalence of hypertension and other heart diseases has been shown to be high in the aboriginal population due to overweight. Other health issues associated with obesity in aboriginal children is the development of kidney disease (Kim et al., 2016). One of the major gaps that have made obesity a major issue among aboriginal children is their inaccessibility to various Australian government-based programs to improve dietary habits among children.

References for Aboriginal Childhood Overweight and Obesity

Esler, D., Raulli, A., Pratt, R., & Fagan, P. (2016). Hypertension: High prevalence and a positive association with obesity among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth in far north Queensland. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 40(S1), S65–S69. https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12401

Hill, K., Ward, P., Grace, B. S., & Gleadle, J. (2017). Social disparities in the prevalence of diabetes in Australia and in the development of end stage renal disease due to diabetes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia and Maori and Pacific Islanders in New Zealand. BMC Public Health, 17(1), 802. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4807-5

Kim, S., Macaskill, P., Baur, L. A., Hodson, E. M., Daylight, J., Williams, R., Kearns, R., Vukasin, N., Lyle, D. M., & Craig, J. C. (2016). The differential effect of socio-economic status, birth weight and gender on body mass index in Australian Aboriginal Children. International Journal of Obesity, 40(7), 1089–1095. https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2016.71

Sherriff, S., Baur, L., Lambert, M., Dickson, M., Eades, S., & Muthayya, S. (n.d.). Aboriginal childhood overweight and obesity: the need for Aboriginal designed and led initiatives. Public Health Research & Practice. https://www.phrp.com.au/issues/december-2019-volume-29-issue-4/aboriginal-childhood-overweight-and-obesity-the-need-for-aboriginal-designed-and-led-initiatives/

Remember, at the center of any academic work, lies clarity and evidence. Should you need further assistance, do look up to our Nursing Assignment Help