Akufo-Addo concerned about Ghana's obesity rate

President Nana Akufo-Addo has expressed concern about the poor eating habits and lack of exercise among citizens which is resulting in an increase in the rate of obesity in the country.

Delivering the 2020 State of the Nation’s Address (SONA) to Parliament on Thursday, the President noted that although his government is tackling obesity to reduce the rate of non-communicable related death, the lifestyle of Ghanaians is still a major problem.

“Too many of us are overweight and obesity is an increasing problem even among young people. The food we eat, the mode of cooking and the lack of exercise are all now have their great impression on our health,” he stated.

He, therefore, called on Ghanaians to adopt healthy behaviours that will help keep them in good shape and reduce the increasing rate of heart diseases and diabetes.

“It is time we all learn to take the individual responsibility for our health and accept that our health is very much determined by our lifestyle.”

According to a 2018 report issued by two universities, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the University of Western Cape in South Africa stated that 43% of Ghanaian adults are either overweight or obese.

it added that women had the highest prevalence rate and the condition was also common among school-age children.

Commenting on the issue on The Pulse on Joy News, National lead of Risk Communication and Social Mobilisation, Joel Abekuliya described the obesity rate in Ghana as ‘terrible’. 

“Ghana is already struggling with communicable diseases, and we have issues like obesity that also contribute to non-communicable diseases.

“And there hasn’t been any big study officially sponsored by the Ghana Health Service or the State to really ascertain what the situation is in the country,” he noted

He was however hopeful that should the topic be continuously discussed, initiatives will be implemented to change the alarming rate of obesity and overweight issues in the country.  

Clinical Nutritionist, Dr Benjamin Nuako on his part, attributed the genesis of the issue to the mindset of citizens where people think obesity means the person is living a ‘good life’.

The Nutritionist observed that Ghanaians take to much energy-dense food and expend less energy, therefore, accumulating fats in the body.

“When you compare obesity rate in the cities to the rural areas you will notice a difference. This is because those in the rural areas expend a lot of energy to those in the cities.

“The rural people walk to the farm, they do a lot of work and walk back home and even at home, everything they do is mechanical. But in the cities, we have machines doing everything for us, so there is little motion [therefore fact is accumulated in the body],” he explained.