In today’s world, when humans’ health has deteriorated over time, there is an ongoing debate on whether governments or individuals should be accountable for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. From my point of view, the authorities do have responsibility to provide external enforcement, but it is a must for individuals to maintain the wholesome lifestyle by themselves.
On the one hand, the governments should be in charge of their people. In specific, they are to blame if a large number of citizens suffer from illnesses due to unhealthy ways of living, as the reason may lie in their negligence of promoting healthy lifestyles and insufficient provision of facilities for citizens to maintain it. Firstly, strict policies such as banning and imposing high taxes on junk food do provoke a better lifestyle by discouraging overconsumption, as low-income people will no longer buy them, then having to find healthier alternatives. Also, educational national campaigns funded by governments can somehow affect people’s awareness about the need for a healthy lifestyle, encouraging them to change for the better. Furthermore, some governments do not offer enough public health infrastructure, thus their citizens lack the environment to live healthier. However, limitations may not necessarily prevent people from buying unhealthy food, some may just save more just to treat themselves, and campaigns may not be as effective to some people who do not care about their health in the first place, as they even consider it annoying and refuse to change. Besides, public health infrastructure may be better at curing illnesses rather than preventing and promoting a healthy lifestyle.
On the other hand, I believe that it is personal accountability for maintaining a wholesome lifestyle. First and foremost, only individuals have the right and ability to control their way of living, and no authorities can help them keep track of themselves. For example, their plan to exercise everyday and their diet requirements for a fit body are only able to be followed strictly by themselves, not any others. Secondly, only when each person has concern about their own health can a wholesome lifestyle be maintained stably in the long run, which I assume is the root cause of the problem. The reason is that reshaping individuals’ consuming behavior does not probably come from external enforcement such as high taxes on junk food, but their own awareness and discipline to cut off those. Lastly, each person has their own needs and health conditions, so the “healthy lifestyle” for each may differ. Therefore, no one-size-fits-all policies can drive everyone to change their behaviors, but individuals’ buy-in and internal commitment are able to tackle the situation thoroughly.
In summary, I assume that individuals hold primary responsibility for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, though the authorities do need to launch crucial initiatives to encourage it.