Obesity and Healthy Eating Habits

Obesity is a growing problem, most prevalent in the developed countries, especially US. Children and adolescents are gaining weight at a fast pace as compared to their parents. Although, it is very complicated to exactly know the cause of obesity, its risk factors, its prevention in different populations, yet, it has been observed that changes in life style and particularly in eating habits has contributed to an increased obesity incidence globally. These habits include eating junk food, synthetic and bakery products, increased hoteling, increased consumption of meat and unstaturated fats. If we compare the urban and rural regions at a global scale, we may come to know that Obesity and gastrointestinal problems are more prevalent in urban areas. It also indicates that these disorders are mostly attributed to bad eating habits and wrong choices of food which lack nutritional value but cause various disorders. Atleast 2 decades ago, when there was less digitalization and technological advancements, if people consumed high cholesterol diet or meat, they could digest it as they were physically very active. But in these days, there is less physical activity and our digestive systems cannot digest such food. Moreover, junk food may contribute to obesity. No doubt genetics may also has some role which cannot be denied but the modifiable risk factors can be controlled, monitored and may prevent such disorders. However, global investigations in this regard are direly needed to know the dietary habits and patterns worldwide, their effects in different populations, so that policies may be devised and implemented. Parents are also not aware of a proper healthy pattern that meets the requirements of their children. Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) Surveys and then awareness campaigns may play a positive role in this regard. Teaching healthy dietary patterns for different age groups at school level may also serve the purpose.

Resettlement of the Balakot Town – Problems and Prospects

Resettlement is one of the risk reduction measures in the field of disaster management. The Government of Pakistan has worked out a plan of resettlement of the Balakot town to mitigate the risk of earthquake hazard. In post-earthquake scenario, residents of the Balakot town interacted with the changed physical and economic environment. The line agencies of the Government guided this interaction of environmental adaptation or resettlement processes through laws, regulations, incentives, and penalties as providing: new site for Balakot town at Bakryal; declaring old Balakot town in red zone; discouraging developmental activities in the old Balakot town; and formulated the future plans for old and new Balakot towns. The process of resettlement of Balakot town has been directly affected by some important factors such as: the perception of the residents of Balakot town about hazards; economic opportunities; centrality; and hazardous site of the old Balakot town; planned site of the new Balakot town; distance between the new and old Balakot towns; location of the new Balakot town; economic opportunities at new Balakot town; justice and equity in the resettlement policy; and obstructions which are delaying the project. The old Balakot town was a hub of political, social and economic activities while the new site at Bakryal is supposed to have good infrastructure facilities. The interacting physical and economic environment for the residents of the old Balakot town was quite complex and uncertain as these influencing factors and resettlement policy of the government offers both hopes and worries. They are hopeful about safe and sound life in the new Balakot town but worried about their businesses and social status which they are enjoying in the old Balakot town. Thus, problems are created by this uncertainty on one hand and prospects due to new opportunities on other hand. In the present study, the resettlement problems of uncertainty and prospects due to opportunities have been studied through site and situation analysis as it covers all the interacting situation of environmental adaptation or resettlement processes. The uncertain situation of Page | viresettlement of the Balakot town has been elaborated in the form of site and situation. The site of the old Balakot town is hazardous while the situation is convenient, while on the other hand the site of new Balakot town is feasible but the situation is not encouraging. The second important aspect is the totally different perception of the two major stakeholders i.e. the Government and citizens of the Balakot about the opportunities & risks for the old and new Balakot towns, respectively. It is well known fact that ultimately, the successful resettlement of the Balakot town would be dependent upon citizen’s perception. The site and situation factors have been analysed both for the old and new Balakot towns to formalise their existing and future physical and economic status. The response of the residents of Balakot while interacting with the current physical and economic environment has been studied and problems have been identified that create uncertainty about the future of the old and new Balakot towns. This study is aimed at identification of the problems of uncertainty and future prospects of the resettlement of Balakot. On the basis of this study a tool has been developed. The basic components of this tool are: policy of the resettlement, site and situation of both old and new Balakot towns. Each of the three aspects has six major steps: major variables, existing conditions, problems, proposed solutions, testing response and modification & finalization. In this tool, major variables are further divided into minor factors for which the desired and actual response of the residents of Balakot has been analysed for the purpose of problem identification. After identifying the problems, the measures to resolve these problems in post disaster scenario have been suggested. These measures are based on the available resources to streamline the resettlement process and achieve the desired response. To standardise the mechanism, these measures are also tested against the response of the residents of Balakot. The final output of the study is in the form of a tool which provides a standardised mechanism for desired development. This tool can be applied with some modifications to other resettlement processes as well in future.