Contextual Trend in Preventing Obesity Epidemic in Developing Countries: Role of the Key Players | Chapter 11 | Emerging Research in Medical Sciences Vol. 1
Aim: Today, the World Health Organization warns that the greater future burden of obesity and diabetes will affect developing countries with the extent doubling with urbanization. Aside from the estimation that, currently, more than 1.6 billion (age 15+ years) adults are overweight and at least 400 million of them are obese, it was also estimated that obesity is responsible for 2-6 % of the total health care cost in several developed countries and some estimates put the figure as high as 7%. The true costs are undoubtedly much greater as not all obesity related conditions are calculated. Some developing countries aimed to attain the millennium development goals (MDGs), which prospect the reduction in rate of tuberculosis, malaria, maternal and infant mortality rates, and childhood malnutrition, however little or nothing is done to curb the increasing obesity epidemic and its accompanying non-communicable diseases (NCDs) burden. The fact therefore is that, the developing countries’ ...