As has been noted by The Daily Morning before, the prevailing crisis in the health sector, which was triggered by the lack of financial resources amid the economic crisis, is not merely a challenge of the present. Its impacts have serious potential to affect the health of generations to come and the future of the existing generations, and therefore, it is a challenge of the future too. This is why the famous saying “prevention is better than cure” should be a motto followed by all Sri Lankans.
According to health authorities, in discussions regarding the state of the country’s population being overweight and obese, which has reached alarming levels with the increasing number of persons who are experiencing such issues, highlighted that prevention plays a pivotal role in weight-related health issues. During a discussion organised by the Health Ministry’s Health Promotion Bureau to mark World Obesity Prevention Day, they further cautioned that when a person is overweight, the risk of being subjected to other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is high. As per statistics, in 2015, 22.5% of overweight and obese individuals had been recorded among males, while 2021 data shows that it had increased to 30%. In addition, although the percentage of females with the same health issues was recorded as 34% in 2015, it had increased to 48% by 2021.
The percentage of people who are overweight and obese is a complex health challenge. As was stressed by health authorities, it is a challenge that could lead to more health issues, and according to data, it is a challenge that is gradually exacerbating. However, this is not a health challenge for which the public could blame the health sector, because weight-related health issues are largely a result of irresponsible food habits and the lack of exercise, and therefore, those are matters that the public should be mindful of. What the health authorities could do in this regard is limited.
However, health authorities could provide substantial support to guide the public to adopt healthier lifestyles and refrain from unhealthy practices. Raising awareness is key. However, given the fact that raising awareness on NCDs has been a usual practice of the health authorities although these data show that such efforts pertaining to weight-related health issues are yet to achieve significant results, the health authorities should pay attention to adopting newer, more convincing approaches. In the present socioeconomic context, the use of new technology such as social media in these efforts as well as paying more attention to discussing the costs of weight-related health issues are areas they could look into.
In addition, when it comes to preventing NCDs, the general public appears to be lackadaisical as opposed to when dealing with communicable diseases, because the impacts of NCDs take time to cause complications. What is more, there are misconceptions about being overweight and obese, two main ones being the beliefs that these forms of health issues affect only those who consume excessive amounts of food, and that being overweight is better than being underweight. These attitudes also need to be addressed if Sri Lanka is to prevent further increases in the aforementioned statistics.
More importantly, taking into account that the risk of NCDs spreading is now higher than before, owing to the decreased ability of the health authorities to allocate funds for purposes other than serious and urgent ones, health-related policy reforms should pay more attention to long-term health issues such as being overweight and being obese. Such efforts would be immensely useful in identifying measures that do not require considerable financial resources.