Obesity intervention measures : ethical considerations

Abstract

Obesity is a major public health concern all over the world. Obesity is a condition that people tend to attribute to self-control issues and personal choices. The obese is generally assumed to lack willpower and to be someone who makes poor lifestyle choices. Research indicates that this weight stigma can cause physical and psychological harm and that those affected are less likely to seek adequate care. They are also most likely to be discriminated against in educational settings and at the workplace and are often socially stigmatised. Obesity is also likened to an epidemic that requires regulation and monitoring. Strategic interventions to curb excessive weight are deemed justifiable in view of the impact of obesity on an individual’s wellbeing. This study reviews the impact of such assumptions and identifies the social determinants of obesity. It looks at the inequities that they can generate and highlights the measures that could be introduced to change the socioeconomic patterning of obesity. It also considers the ethical principles and moral values involved in the implementation of complex community‐based interventions to prevent obesity. In the concluding chapter, it examines a few of the objectives, targeted policies and ethical perspectives of the national strategy document entitled A Healthy Weight for Life: 2012-2020 National Obesity Strategy that sets out the strategy to prevent obesity in Malta. It presents recommendations that emphasise the importance of ethics in practice, thus placing the strategy in a wider context, while keeping in mind the need to reconcile public interest with the dignity and rights of the individual.