Obesity worries Tanzanian health workers

Health workers in Tanzania, one of the world's least developed countries, are worried by the alarming rate of an increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity among the country's adults and children.

The diet-related problem is mainly found in cities, towns and regions that are better developed in this east African country, according to Dr. Lunna Kyungu, the principal nutritionist at the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Center.

Prevalence of diet-related non-communicable diseases is high in Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Lindi and Mtwara, four of the country's 26 province-like administrative regions, according to the nutritionist's demographic findings.

Prevalence of hypertension ranges between 3.0 and 12.8 percent among the four regions while high blood cholesterol prevalence are between 0.6 and 7.8 percent with high blood triglycerides prevalence at between 7.9 and 13.2 percent and diabetes prevalence at between 0.5 and 11.1 percent.

Countrywide, prevalence of hypertension is 30 percent in men and 28.6 percent in women in the urban areas, according to the nutritionist who holds rapid changes of lifestyles in accordance with economic development responsible for the problem.

Dr. Kyungu describes obesity simply as a disease in which excessive body fat has accumulated to such an extent that health is adversely affected.

Obesity is an important causative factor in many major diseases like hypertension, diabetes and heart diseases.

The World Health Organization Report indicates that non-communicable diseases account for at least 40 percent of all deaths in developing countries and for 75 percent of all deaths in developed countries, even though non-communicable diseases are preventable in many cases.

Source: Xinhua