A damning new report that highlights obesity in the UK as well as how to tackle it has been produced by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.
The academy has set out a 10-point report to combat what doctors believe to be “the greatest public health crisis facing the UK”, and the report is especially critical of previous governments that have attempted to address the problem in Britain, which has been labelled “the fat man of Europe”.
The report has stated that more has to be done to tackle the problem of obesity as there are knock-on effects, such as high blood pressure, diabetes as well as heart disease and strokes. It has labelled past governments’ attempts at tackling obesity as “woefully inadequate”, as well as “disappointingly ineffective”.
Liverpool and surrounding areas such as Knowsley and St. Helens are said to have some of the worst health problems in Britain. A profile by the Public Health Observatories body shows that the health of people in Liverpool is below that of the average in England.
As well as this, the life expectancies for both men and women locally fall short of the national average. One of the most shocking things about the health of the city is that over one fifth (22.1%) of junior school pupils are classed as obese and the levels of healthy eating and physical activity by adults, as well as children, are also below national statistics.
However, there are signs that this could be improved in the city with the European Congress on Obesity coming to Liverpool in May this year, as well as the various ongoing schools programmes involving Liverpool and Everton FC.