The Burrill Report


Obesity is rapidly becoming a global problem, affecting countries at all levels of income, according to a new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Health Organization. Their analysis, published in The Lancet, suggests that emerging economies need to take immediate action to reverse the rising incidence of obesity before the problem reaches levels seen in the industrialized world.

The report assesses obesity levels in six emerging countries: Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa. Unhealthy diets and physical inactivity are pushing obesity rates rapidly toward those seen in OECD countries, where half of the population is already overweight and one in six people is considered obese.

Results varied across countries surveyed. Seven in 10 Mexican adults are overweight or obese, while nearly half of all Brazilians, Russians and South Africans are also in this category. China and India report lower levels of obesity, but are also rapidly moving in the wrong direction, the OECD says.

Low-and middle-income countries have far fewer health care resources to deal with the consequences of obesity, which include higher rates of cardiac disease, cancer, diabetes and other serious health problems, according to the report.

The OECD strongly recommends that developing countries address the pending obesity epidemic now, as part of wider comprehensive health prevention strategies, rather than wait until the costs of treating obesity-related illness is much more expensive.

The annual cost of broad-based prevention strategies tackling obesity and other health threats, such as alcohol consumption, smoking, high blood pressure and cholesterol, would be less than $2 per-person per-year in India and China, less than $3 per-head in Brazil, and around $4 per-person in South Africa, Russia and Mexico, according to its analysis.

These strategies should include mass media campaigns promoting healthier lifestyles, taxes and subsidies to improve diets, tighter government regulation of food labeling and restrictions on food advertising. Immediate implementation of this sort of comprehensive strategy would add 1 million years of life in good health to India’s health expectancy and 4 million years in China over the coming 20 years (at a cost of $270 in India and $380 in China per-year gained).

“A multiple intervention strategy would achieve substantially larger health gains than individual programs, with better cost-effectiveness,” said OECD health policy analyst and lead author Michele Cecchini.

The OECD says the strategy would pay for itself – through reduced health care costs – in half the countries surveyed, and would become cost-effective in the others within 15 years.

The report also addresses the growing incidence of childhood obesity in developing countries, which is lower than that seen in OECD countries, but also moving quickly in the wrong direction. The OECD suggests countries take specific action to fight childhood obesity, particularly tougher regulation of food advertising directed at children.


 



November 12, 2010
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-obesity_spreading_in_emerging_economies.html