Increasing physical activity can play an important role in the fight against obesity. The Caribbean Public Health Authority (CARPHA) reiterated the growing concern of increasing obesity rates among children and women in terms of Body Mass Index (BMI) compared to men. In observance of World Obesity Day (Last Thursday), CARPHA stated that Caribbean women are three times likely to obese than men and also have higher rates of abdominal obesity. Obesity increases the risk of developing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The social and economic costs of these diseases are astronomical at the individual and societal level especially where economic growth is sluggish and or stagnated.
CARPHA's statement reinforces the call of Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) that Latin American and Caribbean countries have to invest more in sport and physical activity so as to create healthier and happier societies. According to the IDB spending by governments in Latin American and the Caribbean on sport amounts to .1% of GDP excluding elite athletes funding.
The IDB report noted that although the region is noted for producing world-class elite athletes, the general population physical inactivity level is very exasperating especially when the population is disaggregated into age groups. For instance, between the ages 11 and 17, only 1 out of 10 adolescents are meeting the universal standard of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per day. In T&T, for the period 2007-11 School Health Survey reported for the age group 12-15 years, more persons were sedentary than physically active for 60 minutes.
The lack of physical activity is compounded by poor eating habits- heavy consumption of sugar-based and fast foods- and sedentary lifestyles. If allowed to develop unchecked, the already existing problems of hypertension, type 2 diabetes and obesity among the older population can become an alarming issue among the younger population.
The obesity concerns should not fall on deaf ears. In addition to embracing the initiatives recommended by CARPHA that focuses on improving food and nutrition surveillance systems, and activating the Childhood Obesity Action Plan, physical activity has to be an integral part of the strategy to address obesity across the population.
A strategic approach is required to not only sensitize but also get the population across age, gender, social class, ethnicity, disability, and religion involved in the recreational physical activity. While it is important to have the support of organizational stakeholders- ministries such as health, sport, education, community development; sporting bodies and the business community- it is equally imperative that communities are given the opportunity to speak about the various socio-economic and cultural issues that impact on their habitual engagement in physical activity. Such an approach will allow for the development of realistic policies that will have a greater chance of yielding returns as communities would have participated in the decision making the process that will affect their lives.
"I don't feel it is necessary to know exactly what I am. The main interest in life and work is to become someone else that you were not in the beginning." Michel Foucault
Anand Rampersad (PhD)
pastiche6@gmail.com