Obesity

Preventing and Managing the Epidemic in your country

“Thou seest I have more flesh than another man, and therefore more frailty.”

William ShakespearePlaywright

“Obesity is not a minor problem. It actually reduces life

expectancy by a quarter.”Prof. Nicola Basso

Physician

“The people in power have created an obesity epidemic.”

Robert AtkinsPhysician

Work as a Team• In order to answer

the questions, you have to work as a team

• Each of you will work on an aspect of the topic

• When you come together to share the expertise you have gained, as a team, you will be able to answer the question

Obese Person

Teenagers

Government Official

Healthcare Workers

Background InformationIn order to answer the big question, you need to develop some basic shared understanding about Singapore’s and Australia’s policies relating to national health. Therefore it is important for all members of your team to visit the websites listed here in order to answer the questions below.

1. Why classify overweight and obesity?2. What is the secular trend of obesity in the two countries?3. What are the health consequences of obesity in adults and children?4. What are the social consequences?5. What are the health benefits and risks of weight loss?6. What are the economic costs of obesity?7. What are the factors that influence the development of obesity8. How can each country address the problem?9. How can we prevent and manage obesity as a community/country?10. What are the challenges for the new millennium?

Background Information• Singapore (Wikipedia)• Singapore: Research on obesity• Singapore: Health Promotion Board• Australia (Wikipedia)• Obesity Australia• Australia: Institute of Health• WHO Report• Obesity - Global challenge• Challenges for overweight/overweight/overweight/obese wom

en• Obesity – health risk• Lecture by Dr Regina Belski - La Trobe University

Individual RolesNow that all members of your team have some shared understanding, it is time for each of you to become an ‘expert’ in a field of knowledge that will help your team answer the big question. In order to answer the question well, individual member of your team must play your part and fulfil the following ‘expert’ roles.Obese PersonIt is your role to find out about the problems (health, social, financial etc) facing the overweight/obese people in your community.Government OfficialIt is your role to find out about the different ways that the government and non government authorities manage and address the problem.TeenagersIt is your role to find out how you can help yourself and your fellow teens not to fall into the obesity trap and how you can play an active role in easing social consequences for the overweight/obese.Healthcare WorkersIt is your role to find out existing options and develop new ones for keeping the overweight/obese healthy and helping them to lose weight

Group SynthesisWell done. Each of you has not only gained the broad picture, but is also an expert in your role.You will need to get together as a team to share your different expert perspectives on the big question.

How can we prevent and manage the obesity epidemic in Australia and Singapore?

As a team, answer the question. Your answer must include information and ideas from each of the four areas of expertise.

Your team must present in either of the following formats:• Prezi• PowerpointThe team will present to the rest of the Australian Connection participants and all members of the team will be required to speak during the presentation.