Population Health Interventions

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In the article, “ A Ban on Marketing of Food/Beverages to Children: The Who, Why, What, and How of a Population Health Interventions,” by Dutton, Campbell, Elliot and McLaren (2012), the authors are addressing the ineffective marketing strategies and policies of the Canadian government. They identify that childhood illnesses can be linked to poor dietary intake and that current strategies are not effectively inspiring populations to change their dietary habits. This article provides us with information about the issues, who is going to be affected, who needs to be inspired and educated, and what changes need to be made. The authors further demonstrate what is wrong with the current marketing strategies, and identify the process that must …show more content…
They recognize that the current federal government’s preference is for voluntary rather than regulatory approaches in dietary policy (Dutton, Campbell, Elliott et al p. 280). This is further proven by the fact that the government has already discovered a link with health issues and a person’s diet. Their statistics regarding the percentage of deaths worldwide that are attributed to excess consumption of saturated fats, trans fats, sugar and salt (Dutton, Campbell, Elliott et al p. 279) are frightening. If measures are not taken to counteract and effectively stop this excessive consumption, our children will not live long, healthy lives. The article identifies that this encompasses the purpose to educate and inspire others to advocate for a transformation of the current government marketing policies. They recognized that the process will be ongoing, and require monitoring and reviewing. It identifies that the emphasis must be on reducing health risk factors, identify areas for change and creating a group to lobby the government for national unity on marketing bans. They reviewed several population-level interventions prior to coming to this conclusion. (Dutton, Campbell, Elliott et al p. …show more content…
281). Another contributing factor that has proven difficult is determining what age group of children should be included in the proposal. The ban that is currently in place in the province of Quebec could be used as a model, and they could consider using the guidelines on what constitutes advertising to children (Dutton, Campbell, Elliott et al p. 281), but these are open to interpretation, and would need to be refined. They are correct that the health pitch has been shown to be vulnerable to manipulation by industry (p.280). Their changes would require precise, detailed guidelins with strict parameters to elimate the chance of manipulation by industry officials. Currently the advertising system can reach children freely at several levels: internet, television, phone, games and contests. (Dutton, Campbell, Elliott et al p. 281) The influence of advertisement on children is very strong according to a review commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) (Dutton, Campbell, Elliott et al p. 280). Basically that children exposed to advertising exhibit preference towards food they see advertised, a tendency towards purchasing and requesting the foods they see advertised, and a greater consumption of those foods. (Dutton, Campbell, Elliott et alp.