Childhood obesity in developing countries

Abstract

Obesity rates are continually growing across the globe at alarming rates, costing healthcare systems a fortune in battling obesity related secondary complications such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. The focus has been more concentrated on the developed countries, however, where dietary practices and sedentary lifestyles have long been implicated as the main propagators of obesity. Developing countries are treading on the heels of the developed countries in adult obesity rates, but surprisingly leading in childhood overweight and obesity rates, according to current evidence. Some of the determinants for this phenomenon, just as for developed countries, also include dietary changes and adopting of sedentary lifestyles, as well as other factors such as cultural factors embracing bigger bodies as healthier, among others. Nurses, by nature of their central roles in healthcare systems, can play a pivotal part in the curb of childhood obesity rates in these developing countries. This study hence aimed to gather evidence-based strategies for the prevention, management, and treatment of childhood obesity in developing countries, which could be utilized by nurses, nursing students and other health professionals. A literature review was undertaken using articles collected from two scientific databases CINAHL and MEDLINE. The articles relevant to the research question went through a rigorous selection process and only those meeting the inclusion criteria, such as original articles published from year 2012 upwards with abstracts and peer reviewed were retained. Raw data was extracted from the final eleven articles retained using qualitative data analysis, to come up with the resultant main findings deduced from the category and subcategory themes. The two main categories discovered as potential strategies against childhood obesity were that of preventative and treatment strategies. The subcategories under preventative strategies were role of schools, role of primary healthcare facilities and nurses as role models. For treatment strategies, psychotherapy such as cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), pharmacotherapy and bariatric surgery were identified as subcategories. It was concluded from the study that preventative strategies centred around health and nutrition education were best suited and more likely effective for the relatively less developed healthcare systems of developing countries, considering the higher costs of last resort strategies like bariatric surgery, which would further burden them economically. The necessary training for the nurses involved in child growth monitoring and early childhood obesity diagnosis ought to be provided expeditiously to arrest this pandemic which threatens the current and future of children, and subsequently the economies in these developing countries.