Awareness session held on World Obesity Day

Participants voice concerns, share advice on curbing spread of disease

RAWALPINDI:

Pakistan National Heart Association (PANAH) General Secretary and Director Operations Sanaullah Ghumman said obesity is one of the biggest public health challenges facing the world today, and is a life-threatening disease that doubles the risk of hospitalisation for Covid-19.

He was speaking at an awareness programme organised by PANAH in association with the Women Development and Welfare Centre on World Obesity Day being observed on Friday (today) across the world, including Pakistan. This year’s theme is “Everybody Needs to Act”.

“The rate of obesity has almost tripled since 1975, and the number of children and adolescents has increased almost five-fold,” said Ghumman. “Obesity affects people of all ages in both developed and developing countries. Its causes need to be addressed in order to reduce the risk of developing the disease.”

Food Policy Programme Consultant Munawar Hussain said that 70% of diseases are caused by obesity, which has become a challenge for the whole world including Pakistan. “Four out of ten people are obese and one in ten children under the age of five is obese, a number that has doubled in the last seven years,” said Hussain, adding that obesity causes a number of diseases including heart, diabetes and cancer.

He went on to say that one of the major causes of these diseases is excessive consumption of sugary drinks, asserting that individuals and children who consume sugary drinks on a daily basis are easy targets for diseases.

Obesity is a major threat to various non-communicable diseases (NCDs), said PANAH Vice President Colonel (retd) Dr Shakeel Mirza. “Obesity increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and stroke, and various types of cancer. To control NCDs, marketing of fats, sugary drinks and salty foods must be limited,” he said.

Mirza insisted that increasing taxes on sugary drinks was essential to protect women, children and adults from obesity.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant General (retd) Kamal Akbar, who was the chief guest at the event, said that the obesity crisis has increased in Pakistan. “We need to develop a wide range of guidelines to prevent and treat obesity in line with global trends,” said Akbar.

“In order to ensure the elimination of childhood obesity in children, our cities and towns need to create places for safe walking, cycling, playgrounds and recreation,” he observed. “We must teach our children healthy eating habits from the beginning, and must reduce use of sugary drinks in our lives.”

Women Development and Welfare Centre Chairperson Iram Mumtaz and Deputy Director Yumna Mir said that life is a great blessing and it is the responsibility of the society as a whole to take care of it.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2022.