Table 1 Roles of government in obesity prevention
From: Obesity prevention: the role of policies, laws and regulations
Action area | Description | Rationale | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
Leadership | ∘ Providing a visible lead ∘ Reinforcing the seriousness of the problem ∘ Demonstrating a readiness to take serious action | ∘ All societal change needs strong leadership ∘ The role of governments is central, powerful and carries sufficient authority to stimulate a sustained multi-sector response ∘ Government voices speak loudly about problems ∘ Government actions speak louder about solutions | ∘ Being visible in the media ∘ Role modelling healthy behaviours (at an individual level) ∘ Role modelling healthy environments (at a government agency level) ∘ Creating mechanisms for a whole-of-government response to obesity ∘ Lifting the priority for health (versus commercial) outcomes |
Advocacy | ∘ Advocating for a multi-sector response across all societal sectors (governments, the private sector, civil society, and the public) | ∘ Solutions will need to involve many sectors within governments and all sectors outside government ∘ Authoritative mechanisms will be needed to achieve cross-sectoral collaboration and coordination | ∘ Advocating to the private sector for corporate responsibility around marketing to children ∘ Creating a high-level taskforce to oversee and monitor multi-sector actions ∘ Encouraging healthy lifestyles for individual and families |
Funding | ∘ Securing increased and continuing funding to create healthy environments and encourage healthy eating and physical activity | ∘ Changing environments requires funding ∘ Social marketing and programs require funding ∘ Supporting actions (eg training, research, evaluation, monitoring) require funding ∘ Public good funding comes mainly from government sources | ∘ Establishing a health promotion foundation (eg using an hypothecated tobacco tax) to fund programs and research ∘ Moving from project funding to program and service funding for obesity prevention ∘ Creating centres of excellence for research, evaluation and monitoring |
Policy | ∘ Developing, implementing, and monitoring a set of policies, regulations, taxes, and subsidies that make environments less obesogenic and more health promoting | ∘ Most behaviours are heavily influenced by environmental factors (physical, economic, policy, socio-cultural) ∘ Changing environments often requires policy drivers ∘ Education-based approaches are weak without supportive environments | ∘ Banning the marketing of unhealthy foods to children ∘ Subsidising public transport and active transport more than car transport ∘ Requiring 'traffic light' front of pack labelling of food nutrient profiles ∘ Restricting the sale of unhealthy foods in schools |