World Obesity Day: A third of South Africans will be obese by 2030

The World Obesity Atlas 2022 has revealed that one in 13 men and one in five women in Africa, and one in three South African adults, are predicted to be obese by 2030.

The report was published on World Obesity Day on Friday 4 March, and produced by the World Obesity Federation.

This year’s theme is “Everybody Needs to Act”

According to new global estimates, more than a billion people around the world will be obese by 2030, double the number there was in 2010.

World Obesity Federation chief executive Johanna Ralston said political and health leaders need to recognise the gravity of the situation and act.

“We anticipate that the continuing increase in obesity worldwide will hold back economic development and will lead to high levels of stress on the health services of many countries.

“In the last two years we have witnessed and reported on how populations with higher levels of overweight and obesity were more at risk of serious consequences from Covid-19, with higher rates of hospitalisation and deaths.”

South Africa has been ranked 13th out of the top 20 countries.

Out of the 434 million men estimated to be obese by 2030, 5 million of them will be in South Africa.

The report said global prevalence of obesity was higher among women than men.

It said 1.6 million South African children aged between five and nine are expected to be obese by 2030, and 3.1 million children aged 10 to 19 are expected to be obese by the end of the decade.

The World Obesity Federation said no country is on track to meet the World Health Organization’s 2025 targets on obesity (as defined by the Body Mass Index or BMI), and that obesity rates are set to continue to rise globally.

“The steady rise of severe obesity is of concern globally, as it is at this point that people with obesity require treatment and care.

“If countries have not invested in services for people living with obesity, or do not have the resources to do so, many lives will be severely impacted by obesity and many people living with obesity left behind.”

The World Obesity Federation said the strongest advocates for taking action to address obesity are people living with obesity themselves.

It said their lived experience injects unique and invaluable insights that can help to design, improve and deliver obesity programmes, policies and services that work.

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