Friday, March 29, 2024

Obesity on the rise in Zambia-CSO-SUN

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The Zambia Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition Alliance has warned that overweight and obesity is on the rise in the country.

CSO-SUN Advocacy and Communications Officer Eneyah Phiri said in an interview that a growing number of Zambians are becoming overweight and obese.

Mr Phiri however appealed to Government to give a comprehensive picture of the obesity and overweight situation in Zambia to allow stakeholders to effectively deal with it.

‘What we know is that 23 percent of Zambian women are overweight and obese and that is according to the latest Zambia Demographic Health Survey although this doesn’t give us a holistic perspective, it does give us an idea about the gravity of the situation, Mr Phiri said.

Mr Phiri added, ‘As you may be aware, overweight and obesity means you are more likely to suffer from heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes in fact, the World Cancer Research Fund recently published that over 10 cancers have a linkage to overweight and obese.’

He observed that energy imbalance causes overweight and obesity hence the need for Zambians to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

‘What we have observed as CSO-SUN is that those with the means are eating a little too much at restaurants and fast foods and in the comfort of their homes,’ Mr Phiri said.

He added, ‘We recommend that we engage more in exercising and physical activity so that we reduce this imbalance so that we don’t suffer from overweight and obesity and an array of health risks that come with it.’

The CSO-SUN Alliance on Saturday participated in the 17th edition of the MultiChoice Inter-Company Relay (ICR) held at Lusaka Show grounds under theme ‘Run and Walk for your Health towards Peace and Unity’ and distributed information on health and nutrition.

15 COMMENTS

  1. Bwanji?
    Bwino. Bwanji?
    Eeeh Ndipo Mwaina tu! Mwadyela??
    Tadyela va A Lungu!
    Ha ha ha!

    What do you expect if people take it as a norm to get fat? Educate the masses every way possible.

    • Zambians are pathetic. Imagine they even go out of their way to post on face Facebook how they had dinner at KFC especially the “rich”. I LMAO at such clueless people. KFC food is a heart attacking waiting to happen! Cook your own food you lazy inferiority complexed beings!

    • YOU HAVE SAID IT ALL. THAT WAS MY FIRST THOUGHT AS PEOPLE IN ZAMBIA NOW MAY HAVE TURNED BIG TIME INTO TAKEAWAYS FROM McDONALD’S, KFC ETC THINKING AKULYA BWINO OR DO YOU STILL SAY GOOD MILILE? AMA ZAMBIANS BALIKWATA SERIOUS INFERIORITY SYNDROME NA MA RUBBISH FROM OUTSIDE. OUR TRADITIONAL NATURAL FOODS ARE THE BEST.

    • ZAMBIA!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW CAN YOU EAT CHINA CHICKEN LEAVING OUR DELICIOUS VILLAGE CHICKENS. CHINA CHICKENS ARE ARTIFICIALLY GROWN WITHIN FEW HOURS IN ORDER TO FEED A MORE ONE BILLION POPULATION.

  2. Zambians in the urban areas think eating junk food is “hip”

    Junk food plays a major role in the obesity epidemic for people living in “Urban area’s” in Africa these days..

    Not too long ago Z policemen were beging for “ya, coca-cola” or “ya mishanga”
    now its ya KFC olo ya MEAT PIE ya MICHOPO ya KA T-BONE STEAK!

  3. Obesity increases your risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and many other chronic health conditions.

  4. They must redo their survey. I think Kambwili , GBM and Liato are the ones tilting the national average girth towards obesity. The majority of us are thin malnourished impoverished

  5. Just go to a place like manda hill, most people driving there are obese, large new middle class of bese people, this will lead to epidemic of diabetes (which is already under way), with kidney failure (not enough dialysis machines), heart disease, premature death just like in HIV, increased incidence of strokes (all thos efat guys who die suddenly in their sleep) etc, place like Zambia cannot cope healthwise, need strong primary prevention measures. educate the f o o l s to be slim while there is still time.

  6. the need for a population based survey is genuine because much of what he said is based on urban lifestyles which are not necessarily representative of the majority. There are a lot of factors that lead to women obesity other than junk food-so that’s not representative either. Go to the compounds and villages and count how many obese people you will encounter. The survey should also investigate lifestyle and you will be surprise that half the obese don’t even eat junk food and their cholesterol levels are very healthy. Being fat is not always sickness

  7. This month a part of China will be celebrating DOG EATING FESTIVAL. 10s of 1000s of dogs are in danger of being slaughtered for the dish. Some activists have been buying dogs in order to save them from this wanton slaughter.

  8. I remember at my primary school we only had one fat kid the entire school. He was the son of the local provincial secretary or something. I forgot the terminology. The daddy was just as fat. So it seems in the last two decades or so, the number of these fat cats has increased tremendously in Zambia.

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