Chapters authored
Social Inequalities, Poverty and Obesity
Nowadays, the growth of obesity, especially in socially vulnerable groups, reveals the complex nature of food patterns involving socioeconomic and cultural aspects. In this scenario, there has been slow progress in intervention actions for this issue. In general, initiatives to reduce obesity tend to focus on changes in diet behavior and individual sector strategies. They underestimate broader aspects social inequalities, symbolic dynamics and cultural local situations. Faced with this reality, the objective of this study was to investigate the phenomenon of obesity in a context marked by poverty incorporating the constructivist perspective. About 24 interviews and 3 focus groups were performed. The expectation was to analyze perceptions, interpretations and practices around food and body fat. The results revealed fundamental components to be observed in the design of public policies aimed at the reduction of obesity. Concentrating in this direction, actions directed to the promotion of social equity and gender equality, as well as greater access to food, education, technology and the quality of health care, especially in the postpartum period, seems more promising ways of dealing with the problem of obesity in this local context.
Part of the book: Psychology of Health
Health Promotion: Trajectory and Current Perspectives
Health promotion is linked to the living conditions of populations. In the last 40 years, health promotion reappears as a promising strategy for the field of Public Health. The health promotion movement emerged more vigorously from the 1970s onwards in developed countries—Canada, the United States and Western Europe. It is particularly in Canada that the concept of health promotion was revived, with the publication in 1974 of the Lalonde Report (A New Perspective on the Health of Canadians). This document placed health promotion at the level of strategic planning. The Lalonde Report has had a significant impact, providing insights into the recent health promotion movement across the world. Later, in 1978, the World Health Organization (WHO) held the 1st International Conference on Primary Health Care in Alma-Ata. This conference emphatically reaffirmed a broad concept of health. Health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease. This reconceptualization of health was fundamental in this process, as it served as the basis for the current health promotion movement. In this chapter, we intend to recover the trajectory and developments of the concept of health promotion and point out its future perspectives.
Part of the book: Health Promotion