The Potential of Systems Thinking in Tackling The Wicked Problem of Childhood Obesity in the Philippines

Abstract

Obesity among children and adolescents in the Philippines has been on the rise over the last decade, and has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing the ‘wicked problem’ of obesity necessitates an approach that considers the complexity of multiple, interdependent factors at play in the obesogenic system. In current literature, there is a lack of system models that map out obesity systems in the Philippine context. Through a series of workshops involving three middle-income Southeast Asian countries, systems thinking principles and tools were applied to unpack a specific issue related to non-communicable diseases. A cross-sector, multidisciplinary team from the Philippines developed a causal loop diagram to map several contributing factors to childhood obesity in the country, such as individual biological factors, physical inactivity, child’s eating patterns, family lifestyle factors, food retail and advertisement, health literacy, and cultural influences. This exercise aimed to identify potential points of intervention and determine necessary data requirements to run the model. The article notes several limitations as well as recommendations for further improving the obesity system model. Experience from the workshop demonstrates the growing utility of systems thinking to approach complex public health problems and guide policymaking.