Childhood obesity in South Africa

 By Oyisa George

More than 30 million overweight children are thought to reside in developing nations, as opposed to 10 million in developed nations. In South Africa, which is categorized as a developing country, childhood obesity is on the rise. Pre-school kids in Africa are becoming more obese at the fastest rate, and South Africa in particular is one of the nations with the highest rate of 13%.

According to Anita Piernaar’s research displays concerning an overall rise in obesity over the period of three years, from the age of six years to nine years. Despite the fact that obesity was generally more common in girls, the prevalence was higher in boys than in girls. The majority of kids displayed a shift towards an unhealthy body mass index (BMI), and some did.

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There are numerous potential reasons for the rise in obesity. It was discovered that children from wealthy homes had the highest rates of obesity prevalence and increase. This suggests that one’s financial status plays a significant effect.

Children’s body composition was negatively impacted by families moving up the economic ladder since healthier kids attended schools and lived in poorer neighborhoods than their richer counterparts. The prevalence of childhood obesity in South Africa today is similar to what it was more than ten years ago in developed nations. As a result, the growing epidemic of childhood obesity significantly affects children who live in South Africa.

“There is inequality and poverty that do not allow children to access adequate amounts of nutritious food. Shockingly 30% of South African children live in households living below the food poverty line.” Said Grimbeek in Health-E News

Obese children are particularly exposed to obesity-related side effects, including negative health and developmental disabilities as they are young and exposed to unhealthy lifestyles and chronic diseases such as diabetes.

This rise in childhood obesity is linked to a lack of supportive policies in developing nations’ health, agricultural, transportation, urban planning, environment, food processing, distribution, and marketing sectors.

Over 12 million children under the age of 18 receive the child support grant, according to their Consumer Price Index report published in December 2021. The assistance is worth R460 or R285 less per person than the current food poverty line, which is set at R744,96. Due to this many households are unable to purchase enough quantities of food for their families, let alone food with greater nutritional properties.

Small findings could be used to build future preventative initiatives for these kids, whose eating and physical activity habits are changing dramatically. Health professionals, policymakers, and specialists in child development could all benefit from this information. Clinical management or public health intervention initiatives should be used as strategies to change body composition levels.

The main reason behind South Africa’s huge proportion of obesity is due to lack of exercise and nutrition. The COVID-19 lockdown had a huge impact on household income and lack of exercise as people were locked inside their houses.

Childhood obesity increases the risk of adulthood obesity, untimely death, and disability. However obese youngsters also have respiratory issues, a greater risk of fractures, hypertension, and early indicators of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, and psychological consequences in addition to their elevated future risks.

Healthy eating and regular exercise are the easiest choices to make which prevent overweight and obesity. Supportive environments and communities are essential in influencing people’s choices. Individuals have the option of limiting the number of total fats and sugar consumed. Increase intake of fruit and vegetables, whole grains, and other healthy foods. To regularly engage in physical activity (60 minutes a day for kids and 10 minutes for adults for a week).

It is commonly believed by society at large that chubby babies are healthy not according to Mutevedzi who is a senior epidemiologist at WITS. She believes that people should get rid of this mentality of thinking chubby babies who are struggling to walk are cute and that mentality, it drives people to overfeed themselves and their kids.

It is important to conduct awareness and education initiatives that alert parents to the potential health issues that young children may experience as a result of unhealthy weight status.

The distribution of future public health dietary and medical resources must change in response to the rise in obesity. It will also be necessary to launch interventions and campaigns that are culturally relevant and successful for each of the numerous communities residing in South Africa.