Healthy People 2020 Health History

History, Depth, and Breadth

In 2008 Healthy People 2020 introduced the leading health indicator NWS-9 Reduce the proportion of adults who are obese. This measure falls under the health topic on nutrition, physical activity and obesity. The World Health Organization describes obesity as the ‘epidemic of the 21st Century’ (Specchia et al., 2014, p. 255). The obesity rate had doubled up to 33.9% from 1980 to 2008 when the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Healthy People 2020 released their leading health indicator on adult obesity (Specchia et al., 2014, p. 255). The latest Healthy People 2020 data shows the rate up even more at 37.7% in 2013-2014 (HHS, Healthy People 2020, 2016). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated the majority of the world’s population live in countries where more people die from being overweight than people die from being underweight (2010, p. 951).

According to Healthy People 2020, America has experienced this dramatic increase in adult obesity because Americans do not eat a healthy diet and do not get enough physical activity (HHS, Healthy People 2020, 2016). Phillipson neoclassical theory

Eating a nutritious diet is important to the normal growth and development of both children and adolescents (HHS, Healthy People 2020, 2016). Just as important regular physical activity helps kids develop muscle, improve heart and bone health (HHS, Healthy People 2020, 2016). Obesity places children and adolescents at increased risk of diabetes and cardiac disease. An example of a social and environmental determinant that places children and adolescents at a higher risk of obesity is the shift from playing games at the playground to playing them on a TV screen. This change not only decreases the kids’ activity level, but also exposes them to over 5,200 fast food commercials a year (Novak & Brownell, 2012, p.