Obesity among South African children a concern

Doctor Tshepo Motsepe has expressed concern at the rising levels of childhood obesity and stunted growth, Northglen News reports.

“By some estimates, by 2025, 3.61 million schoolchildren in South Africa will be clinically obese – a daunting prospect by any measure,” Motsepe said.

Motsepe, the spouse of President Cyril Ramaphosa, was speaking at the 2019 Child Health Priorities Conference, at the North-West University, on Thursday.

Motsepe said some attribute obesity to the rising income levels in the working class, the adoption of Western-style eating habits and the rapid spread of consumerism.

“On the other hand, we also know that the cheapest food is often the unhealthiest, and with limited disposable income and lack of access to nutritious food, often the easiest. This contradiction highlights something we all know: that interventions to address child health must be holistic and integrated,” she said.

According to the government’s 25 Year Review, the lives of children today are fundamentally better than they were during apartheid.

“Through the provision of free primary healthcare; the provision of lifesaving medication including anti-retroviral treatment; through the Primary Schools Nutrition Programme; through the provision of free basic and secondary education; through transformative, progressive and pro-family social welfare policies; and perhaps most of all through the social wage; we have invested – substantially invested in the health, nutrition, well-being, and education of our young people so that they can reach their full developmental potential,” she said.