StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

The Strengths and Weaknesses of Three Government Schemes - Case Study Example

Cite this document
Summary
The paper 'The Strengths and Weaknesses of Three Government Schemes' presents an increasing concern over the increasing rates of illnesses and diseases that are related to unhealthy lifestyles; following these new developments, people have been urged to take up physical exercises…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.4% of users find it useful
The Strengths and Weaknesses of Three Government Schemes
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Strengths and Weaknesses of Three Government Schemes"

Government Schemes To Encourage People to Do Physical Activity Introduction There has been an increasing concern over the increasing rates of illnesses and diseases that are related to unhealthy lifestyles; following these new developments, people have been urged to take up physical exercises to promote positive health outcomes. In the UK, most people are overweight and obese, including 61.9% of the adult population and 28% of children aged between 2 and 15 years of age (Department of Health, 2013); all these people are at a great risk of lifestyle-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart complications, as well as a several cancers. Governments across the world, particularly in Europe, are under growing pressure to pursue actions that motivate and help their citizens to participate in more physical exercise, which is essential to general good health. Evidently, action on physical activity is not only a long-term effort, but also a collaborative area that is tackled effectively through a team strategy across the government and other sectors (Department of Health, 2014). The numerous campaigns adopted by governments in encouraging physical exercises have been highly successful in encouraging a vast proportion of their populations to participate in physical exercises, thereby promoting overall health outcomes. This paper will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of three government schemes that aim to encourage an increase in physical exercise, two from the UK and one from Germany; firstly, the UK’s “Get a life, get active” and “Change4Life” public health campaigns will be addressed, followed by a discussion of Germany’s “National Cycling Plan 2002-2012, Ride Your Bike” campaign. Encouraging physical activity in the UK The National Health Services (NHS) spends nearly £5 billion annually on health problems associated with being overweight and obese, which has led to various campaigns aimed at reducing the level of excess weight in adults and maintaining a sustained downward trend in the level of excess weight in children as well (Department of Health, 2011). The first campaign aimed at promoting physical activity in the UK is known as the “Get a life, get active,” which is aims to promote physical activity among both the young people and their parents. The Public Health Agency developed this physical activity campaign and it seeks to encourage primary school children to be active for a minimum of one hour and adults for at least 30 minutes every day to remain physically fit (Public Health England, 2013). Phase one of the “Get a life, get active” campaign was launched in June 1999 targeting the 40-60 years old adult population, emphasizing the benefits of daily physical activity in form of everyday activities that provide exercises such as gardening, housework and climbing of stairs (Public Health Agency, n.d). This campaign was highly popularized through television, radio and billboard advertising, as well as through leaflets and posters with benefits of physical activity. The second phase of this campaign was launched in May 2000 focusing on the same age group but targeting walking and cycling, which were popularized through TV ads, printed material, as well as promotional items such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, certificates and badges. The third phase launched in June 2001 included running the same advertisement employed in the second and the first phases; the “go walking” television advertisement was shown on UTV and channel 4, and new posters with detailed information on promoting physical activity were also produced. An evaluation of the “Get a life, get active” campaign highlights that it was highly successful in getting more people to be active by increasing an awareness of the benefits of physical activity; a vast proportion of people report having been more physically active in the period of the campaign. Nonetheless, the campaign had a weakness in that it did not take into account the information needs of the lower socioeconomic groups, who remain more uncertain of the specific yields and potential risks associated with physical activity and inactivity respectively. The second UK government’s campaign to promote physical activity is known as the “Change4Life” public health programme, which was launched back in 2009 by the Department of Health; the campaign is England’s first national social marketing approach to tackling causes of obesity. The Change4Life campaign seeks to help families and middle aged adults to take small yet sustainable adjustments to their diet, level of activity as well as alcohol consumption under the slogan “eat well, move more, live longer;” the campaign recommends six healthy behaviours and has six sub brands that focus on both food and activity namely ‘bike4life’ and ‘breakfast4life’. The other four sub-brands in the Change4Life campaign include the ‘Lets Dance with Change4Life’, ‘Play4Life’, ‘Swim4Life’ as well as the ‘Walk4Life’ sub-brand; this approach carries on with the development and implementation of programmes and initiatives aimed at increasing physical activity in families and children between the age of 5-11 through the use of high-profile campaigns and numerous partnerships. Following this campaign, numerous several Change4Life Sports Clubs in nearly 6500 primary schools and over 3000 secondary schools, created specifically for the purpose of increasing the levels of physical activity in the highly inactive 7-9 year olds group. The Change4Life campaign has adopted an integrated marketing approach that utilizes a mix of numerous marketing channels such as television and radio advertising, digital, social media, PR as well as the direct marketing approach. This campaign has a greater impact on health outcomes since its “Eat well, Move more, Live longer” slogan bears a simple message designed to create a holistic approach to dealing with weight and health issues. Precisely, the Change4Life campaign advises people to address all the crucial areas of their lifestyle to promote positive health outcomes not only for their own good, but also their children’s wellbeing in the future. Given that there are various lifestyle elements that actively contribute to weight gain and obesity, a sensible approach to addressing these issues must also have a broad focus to promote positive outcomes; good eating habits must also be supplemented with good exercise habits to achieve optimum results in curbing the overweight and obese menace. A major flaw in the Change4Life physical activity campaign is the government’s inclusion of what has collectively been termed as the corporate partners such as Nestle, PepsiCo and Mars; it would appear that as the leading makers of unhealthy food products, these companies would have the least initiative in promoting healthy food habits (Watts, 2009). Furthermore, the government did not attach any conditions prior to the involvement of industry into the Change4Life campaign thereby losing a crucial opportunity to compel these corporates to change their behaviour. Encouraging physical activity in Germany Germany, like most European countries, has taken measures to encourage its citizens to be physically active to promote health outcomes while reducing the potential risk of overweight and obesity crisis that is rampant today. One of the most popular physical activity promotional initiatives is the “National Cycling Plan 2002-2012” expressed through the “Ride Your Bike” campaign (World Health Organization, 2007), which has created a great buzz in Germany over the recent years, thereby inspiring a whole new area of cycling promotional activities. Such promotional campaigns have been attributed to the increasing public awareness of cycling since they target the whole society, its existing cyclists as well as all potential new ones, particularly school children and commuters. The German government frames its national cycling plan 2002 to 2012 not only as a healthy, but also as a socially acceptable and environmentally sound mode of transport (Federal Ministry of Transport 2002). This campaign highlights the numerous cycling opportunities that exist in society as part of sustainable transport development. Cycling in Germany offers a vast range of benefits such as mobility of users, regardless of their demographics such as age or income levels in addition to boosting health outcomes for the cycling population despite being also cost-effective and environmentally friendly. Cycling campaigns in Germany have been very effective, especially considering that they have been linked to cycling promotion in general rather than being carried out in isolation; precisely, the cycling campaigns have not been carried out in isolation since they have been integrated into a comprehensive communication strategy. For instance, outwardly, the cycling campaign addresses citizens while inwardly, it addresses policy-makers as well as the administrative staff (Cycling Expertise, 2012); unfortunately, success of the cycling campaigns depends on the timing of the specific activities i.e. the campaign is scheduled according to the priorities of the society and media along the yearly calendar. Furthermore, the cycling campaigns rely on the availability of personnel and financial resources to facilitate such things as professional advertising; this prompted the government’s dedication of between EUR 0, 50 and 2, 00 per capita annually to public relations as well as service activities. Conclusion Ultimately, the prevalence of lifestyle-related illnesses today has raised concerns all over the world, particularly in the Eurozone, thereby prompting great reactions from key stakeholders and governments alike; governments in particular are under intense pressure to encourage their citizens to shift their lifestyles in favour of physical activities that are crucial for positive health outcome. The numerous campaigns adopted by the UK and German governments in encouraging their citizens to participate in more physical exercises confirms that physical exercise is indeed at the core of every successful weight-gain reduction and prevention strategy. Evidently, the numerous campaigns adopted by these two governments in encouraging physical exercises have been highly successful in encouraging a vast proportion of their populations to participate in physical exercises thereby promoting great outcomes in terms of improved physical fitness in particular while enhancing the overall health of the populations in general. The reaction of these two governments towards the prevalence of obesity and overweight cases and the related lifestyle diseases and illnesses highlights the crucial role played by physical exercises in promoting positive and improved health outcomes. References Public Health England. (2013). Healthy people, healthy places briefing: Obesity and the environment: Increasing physical activity and active travel. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/256796/Briefing_Obesity_and_active_travel_final.pdf Cycling Expertise. (2012). Campaigning for Public Awareness on Cycling. Retrieved from http://www.nationaler-radverkehrsplan.de/en/transferstelle/downloads/cye-o-04.pdf Department of Health. (2011). Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A call to action on obesity in England. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/213720/dh_130487.pdf Department of Health. (2013). Policy: Reducing obesity and improving diet. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/reducing-obesity-and-improving-diet Department of Health. (2014). Government fires starting pistol to tackle physical activity. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-fires-starting-pistol-to-tackle-physical-activity Federal Ministry of Transport. National Cycling Plan 2002-2012: Ride your bike: Measures to Promote Cycling in Germany. Retrieved from http://edoc.difu.de/edoc.php?id=YFGDITZ2 Public Health Agency. (n.d). Get a life, get active. Health promotion agency. [Online]. Retrieved from http://www.healthpromotionagency.org.uk/Work/physicalactivity/campaigns1.htm Watts, R. (2009). Taking a wrong turn in tackling obesity: Corporate partnerships could set back the governments progress. The guardian. Retrieved from www.theguardian.com/society/joepublic/2008/dec/31/change4life-campaign-obesity World Health Organization. (2007). Nutrition, physical activity and the prevention of obesity: Policy developments in the WHO European Region. Retrieved from http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/111028/E90669.pdf Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(The Strengths and Weaknesses of Three Government Schemes Case Study, n.d.)
The Strengths and Weaknesses of Three Government Schemes Case Study. https://studentshare.org/politics/1829858-government-schemes-to-encourage-people-to-do-physical-activity
(The Strengths and Weaknesses of Three Government Schemes Case Study)
The Strengths and Weaknesses of Three Government Schemes Case Study. https://studentshare.org/politics/1829858-government-schemes-to-encourage-people-to-do-physical-activity.
“The Strengths and Weaknesses of Three Government Schemes Case Study”. https://studentshare.org/politics/1829858-government-schemes-to-encourage-people-to-do-physical-activity.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Strengths and Weaknesses of Three Government Schemes

Strengths and Weaknesses of Shenzhen Company

strengths and weaknesses of the Company (30 pts) In a number of ways, the company has exhibited a number of strong points as far as the delivery of work is concerned.... the strengths discussed above not withstanding, there remain certain vital weaknesses that are worth addressing with immediate effect.... The company's competitors include other energy companies especially government funded energy companies....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

United Health Group and the Health Reform Policy

This paper will analyze the activities of the group, its strengths, and weaknesses and highlight how health insurance reforms will affect the group's standing.... The reform introduces a form of regulation by the government, a factor that affects the growth in the industry.... The group has the privilege to run the Medicaid insurance plan, which is a contract from the government.... The group ranks among the largest three insurance companies in the United States that offer health insurance....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Marketing for financial serivces

hellip; The political conditions involve the government rules that effect on the MBNA policies and lowers its interest rates.... In last few years the government has changed many rules and regulations in order to decrease the interest rage charging on credit cards and thus this directly affect the MBNA credit card services.... The threat of the entry of new competitors: due to the new regulations of government the financial services of the Europe is becoming more stable....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Introduction to Emergency Planning and Operations; Types of Emergencies and Disasters

Traditionally, these were countrywide restrictions put in place by the UK government.... First of all, there is a universal target norm which emphasizes on the quality of food products.... Secondly, there exists an extensive variety of product and procedure pattern… with the intention of gratifying the set standards of policy....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Using Strengths to Pursue Opportunities in Business

The following assignment "Using Strengths to Pursue Opportunities in Business" is being carried out to evaluate and present the linkages between the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, using strategies that the company can use as a guide.... They must meet the standards of the government to avoid any regulatory issues.... Use weaknesses to pursue opportunities.... Overcoming weaknesses to protect against threats....
1 Pages (250 words) Assignment

Personal Finance- Heath insurance

There are several health insurance… The focus will be on the government's health insurance service by outlining its weaknesses and strengths. The government's health insurance, The National government Insurance Company (NHIC) allows the citizens who are paying the insurance to visit any hospital Health Insurance Service in Qatar Introduction Health insurance is crucial for a country, its economy and its people.... The focus will be on the government's health insurance service by outlining its weaknesses and strengths....
2 Pages (500 words) Research Paper

The Knowledge Age: E-Government

In the paper “The Knowledge Age: E-government” the author analyzes E-government, which is the short form of electronic government, also known as the 'e-gov' and has a number of other names in the digital government, online government, and even transformational government.... hellip; The author states that the different countries have adopted the E-government way ever since technological changes started to impact the lives and indeed the business of everyone....
9 Pages (2250 words) Assignment

The Importance of Leadership

Many apprenticeship schemes are based on the principles of mentoring.... The paper entitled 'The Importance of Leadership' presents mentoring which is a relationship between two people – the "mentor" and the "mentee.... As a mentor, you pass on valuable skills, knowledge, and insights to your mentee to help them develop their career....
7 Pages (1750 words) Case Study
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us