Chronic disease prevalence and population health in the United States

¶ … Chronic Disease

Economic stagnation and poverty are important consequences and causes of chronic diseases in the middle and low-income countries. Approximately ninety percent of all chronic disease deaths happen in the middle or low-income countries. People in these nations develop diseases at a tender age, die sooner, and suffer longer than those in high income nations. Chronic diseases like obesity have a major economic impact on people and families: it is a major cause of poverty and hinders national economic development. The major causes of diabetes are well-known and are same globally. It is possible to control and prevent obesity through a range of interventions, most of which are inexpensive and highly cost-effective to implement. This study takes an in-depth look at diabetes, as a chronic disease and evaluates ways to address this issue through the application of chronic disease models and frameworks. In addition, it will consider the impact of the challenges of managing chronic disease on quality of care delivery.

Interventions to reduce chronic disease

Diabetes can be mitigated through interventions aimed at changing diet and lifestyle factors. They encompass changing the environment, educating individuals, undertaking community interventions, implementing economic policies and modifying the food supply. School-based programs entail the role of physical and nutritional activity in maintaining mental and physical health. Food services offered in schools must give healthy meals because it directly affects the health and because it gives a unique opportunity to teach through example. In most nations, physical education in schools remains a significant source of physical activity children (Nici & ZuWallack, 2012). For instance, in China, almost eighty percent of children aged seven to eighteen engage in vigorous or moderate physical activity for at least one hundred minutes per week. Marinating these programs is of utmost priority as they contribute to the historically low rates of obesity in these countries.

Worksite interventions entail a range of health promotion practices because employees spend most of their time working and eat at their workstations. Interventions may include educating workers, providing an incentive program to walk, screening employees for risk factors and enhancing the physical environment to support activities. Worksite promotion of health might result in impressive return on investment through fewer sick days and lower health costs (Gerstein & Haynes, 2011).

Cycling or walking for leisure or transportation are practical and effective means of engaging in physical activities. Still, they are the most common ways of travelling in most of the developed nations. In Manila and Bangkok, only thirty percent of travel is by car, taxi or motorcycle compared to seventy percent by walking or public transportation. In India, only ten percent of the population travels by motorized, private transportation, twenty percent of the population wall, twenty percent bike and the rest use public transportation. Walking and bicycle riding are important for the health of children (Unger, 2013). In some countries, most children do not bike or walk to school, even in shorter distances.

Changing the manufacturing process will effectively and rapidly improve diets, as they do not need the slow process of behavioral change. A good illustration is the elimination of partial vegetable oil hydrogenation that destroys vital Omega-3 fatty acids and forms trans-fatty acids. For instance, manufacturers in Europe have greatly eliminated trans-fatty acids from their supply of food through altering production methods.

Government regulations will support changes in manufacturing by providing incentives for manufacturers to modify their processes. For instance, in 2010, the Food and Drug Administration in U.S. proclaimed that food-processing companies must incorporate the content of trans-fatty acids on the standard food label (Gerstein & Haynes, 2011). From this requirement, various leading food companies decided to eliminate or reduce trans-fats; many more have followed this trend. Changes in fat types can always be inexpensive and invisible. The intake of Omega-3 fatty acids can be increased by including oils from mustard, rapeseed or soybeans into cooking oils and manufactured foods for use at home. Genetic engineering and selective breeding provides alternative methods of improving the healthfulness of oils via modifying their composition of fatty acids.

When the intake of processed foods is high, a reduction in the consumption of salt will demand changes at the manufacturing level because processed food is a major source of salt. A gradual reduction in the salt content of food means that the change will be imperceptible to consumers. Government regulation or coordination among manufacturers is necessary: or else, manufacturers whose salt content in food is lower might be disadvantaged in the market (Morewitz, 2006).