CHILDHOOD OBESITY: A RIGHT-

BASED PERSPECTIVE ON GLOBAL

CONTROVERSY.
By wilbur and Tianyu
Overview of childhood obesity as a major global health issue # the controversies
regarding the origins, causes, responsibilities, and strategies for resolution.

INTRODUCE
 Childhood obesity is a significant health risk, leading to various chronic
conditions.
 Link between obesity in childhood and increased risk of remaining obese in
adulthood.

UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM

 Childhood and adolescence are the most affected stages.
 These stages are crucial for the development of healthy habits.

AFFECTED LIFE STAGES

 Some view obesity as a result of individual lifestyle choices
and emphasize personal responsibility. Evidence from
intervention studies supports the importance of dietary
habits.

DIFFERENT VIEWS ON
CHILDHOOD OBESITY
 Argues that systemic problems, such as marketing unhealthy foods to children
and lack of access to healthy food, contribute to obesity.
 Body structure and genetics also play a role in a child's weight.

SYSTEMIC ISSUES
A HUMAN RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH
TO CHILD HEALTH (HRBA)
 Emphasizes children's rights to health, nutrition, and information.
 Highlights the importance of an integrated approach, ensuring equality, and holding
stakeholders accountable.

 1: The right to health and nutrition

 2: Right to information
 3: Indivisibility and interdependence
 4: Equality and non-discrimination
 5: Participation and inclusion
 6: Accountability and the rule of law

RIGHTS ASSOCIATED WITH OBESITY

 Evidence suggests systemic issues have led to rising obesity rates. Individual-
based interventions alone are insufficient.

CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE

EVIDENCE
 Collective responsibility is
Current systems are failing
needed to create a health-
children in terms of
positive environment for
obesity.
children.

CONCLUSIONS AND GUIDED

DISCUSSIONS
 How can we redesign urban spaces to promote physical activity among
children?

DISCUSSION SESSION 1
 How to better organize schools and communities to promote
physical activity?
1: Basic services
2: Voluntary entry and exit principle
3: Principle of mandatory participation
4: Data regulation
5: Insurance
6: Welcome

DISCUSSION SESSION 2
 Reference
Agostoni, C., Braegger, C., Decsi, T., Kolacek, S., Koletzko, B., Mihatsch, W., Moreno, L. A., Puntis, J., Shamir, R., Szajewska, H., Turck, D., & van Goudoever, J. (2011). Role of dietary
factors and food habits in the development of childhood obesity: A commentary by the ESPGHAN Committee on Nutrition. Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition, 52(6), 662–669.
[DOI: 10.1097/mpg.0b013e3182169253]

Abawi, O., Wahab, R. J., Kleinendorst, L., Blankers, L. A., Brandsma, A. E., van Rossum, E. F. C., van der Voorn, B., van Haelst, M. M., Gaillard, R., & van den Akker, E. L. T. (2023).
Genetic obesity disorders: Body mass index trajectories and age of onset of obesity compared with children with obesity from the general population. The Journal of Pediatrics, 262, 113619. [DOI:
10.1016/j.jpeds.2023.113619]

Convention on the rights of the child text. UNICEF. (n.d.). [URL: https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/convention-text?
j=466951&jb=2&l=264_HTML&mid=100017749&sfmc_sub=55769080&u=14152291]

Johnson, S. B. (2012, July 1). The nation’s childhood obesity epidemic: Health disparities in the making. American Psychological Association. [URL:
https://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/newsletter/2012/07/childhood-obesity]

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2022, November 16). Childhood obesity. Mayo Clinic. [URL:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/childhood-obesity/symptoms-causes/syc-20354827]

World Health Organization. (2021, June 9). Obesity and overweight. [URL: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight]