IELTS Writing Task 2: Health - Agree / Disagree Sample Answer

Obesity rates have reached epidemic proportions in many countries, with the World Health Organization reporting that global obesity has nearly tripled since 1975. I largely agree that governments bear significant responsibility for addressing this crisis, though individual agency remains a meaningful factor.

The case for government intervention rests on the structural nature of the problem. Individuals make food choices within an environment that large corporations have deliberately engineered to promote overconsumption of cheap, high-calorie, nutritionally poor products. Ultra-processed food manufacturers spend billions annually on psychological research and advertising to override satiety signals and create habitual consumption patterns. Children are particularly vulnerable to this manipulation, having neither the cognitive development to evaluate marketing critically nor the autonomy to override parental purchasing decisions shaped by cost and availability. In this context, treating obesity purely as a failure of individual willpower misidentifies the agent most responsible for the food environment that generates it.

Government interventions have demonstrated measurable effectiveness. Mexico's sugar-sweetened beverage tax reduced sales by 7.6% in its first year, with larger reductions in lower-income households where budget sensitivity is greatest. Chile's mandatory front-of-pack warning labels and restrictions on marketing unhealthy products to children were followed by significant reductions in the purchase of labelled items. These policies do not eliminate individual choice - they restructure the environment to make healthier choices easier and unhealthy ones more expensive.

Government responsibility is therefore substantial, though not exclusive. Education, regulation of food marketing, product reformulation incentives, and urban planning that promotes physical activity are all legitimate and effective interventions. Personal responsibility remains relevant but cannot substitute for the structural changes only government is positioned to implement.