Health challenges
The emerging epidemic of obesity in developing countries
Trends in the pandemic of weight gain its socio-behaviour influences in traditional societies
Authors:
A. M. Prentice
Publisher:
International Journal of Epidemiology, 2005
Thirty years ago international nutritionists were focusing on finding solutions to childhood malnutrition, the ‘protein gap’ and strategies to feed the world's increasing population, while medical services in the developing world concentrated on the fight against infectious diseases. Today the World Health Organization (WHO) is dealing with the new pandemic of obesity and associated non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes. Despite this shift, the challenge of childhood malnutrition has far from disappeared, while TB, HIV and malaria rates are still increasing. This pandemic of obesity is in part caused by subsidised agriculture and multinational companies providing cheap, highly refined fats, oils, and carbohydrates, as well increased use of labour-saving mechanised devices, affordable motorised transport, and an increase in sedentary pastimes. This paper in the International Journal of Epidemiology reviews these macro-environmental trends as well as considering some of the socio-behavioral influences on weight gain in traditional societies. The major points are summarised and a case study from Gambia presented.
The author highlights warnings from the WHO that the future burden of obesity and diabetes will disproportionately affect developing countries, with projected numbers of new diabetes cases running into the hundreds of millions within the next two decades. It concludes that the pandemic will continue to spread for the foreseeable future, and that, apart from educational campaigns, the governments and health services of poor countries have few effective public health strategies with which to stop this trend.
