Stakeholders

            In public health, once a problem has been identified, intervention strategies are hypothesized.  When thinking of potential interventions, one must think of the people or things that will be affected by each intervention.  These are called stakeholders.  Stakeholders are people, organizations, or other groups who share a stake in the issue at hand.  These people may be directly affected by the problem or solution to the problem.  Stakeholders can also have something to gain or lose by an intended intervention or solution on a topic.

            For my public health problem, the major stakeholder would be children ages 10-19 with and without type 2 diabetes.  Other potential stakeholders would include the parents of children ages 10-19, local/state officials, local governments, school physical education programs, school dining programs, medical clinics, nutritionists, hospitals, and potentially many more depending on the intervention at hand.

            The stakeholders that would need to be negotiated with would be parents, governments, school physical education programs, and school dining programs.  Health care providers may need to discuss with parents of these children healthier eating and exercise habits and lifestyles.  Government can go hand in hand with the schools depending on the specific intervention.  Government can pass certain laws requiring schools to have physical education and health classes so students will be able to get exercise and learn how to take care of their bodies.  Government could also potentially pass laws pertaining to the school’s cafeteria options.  They can require the school’s to have healthier options available and plenty of them.  They also can restrict how much fatty foods are for sale. 

            The children may also have to be negotiated with.  They might need to be persuaded to accept healthier options and participate fully in their physical education classes.

            Interventions to consider could be educational programs.  Schools can implement health classes to educate children on correct eating habits and ways to lead a healthy lifestyle.  Also implementing physical education classes in school can be helpful.  Making sure kids get exercise everyday can improve their health.  Schools could also prohibit fatty foods from their dining halls so kids cannot purchase them.  In alternative, the dining halls can be supplied with healthier food options.  Those who are at risk for type 2 diabetes and those with type 2 diabetes can meet with nutritionists to give them dieting tips and meals they can make in order to keep a healthy eating habit.

            Stakeholders that would be opposed to this could be manufacturers of unhealthy food products.  They would lose business if all schools implemented the intervention of no unhealthy food.  To address their concerns, they could create a healthier alternative to their food that could be sold in the dining halls.  For example, how Lays started manufacturing “baked” chips.