Use multipronged method to tackle obesity problem

A salaries commission would bring parity and rationality to pay for civil servants and other public officers.

 While it can hardly be described as meticulous and patient work, the government’s move to impress upon its workers the merits of physical activity deserves critical praise.

Ms Lucy Nakyobe Mbonye, the head of public service and secretary to cabinet, wants a two-hour weekly physical exercise session to be shoe-horned into the workweek schedule of ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs). Which is just as well.

If the request however feels like a knee-jerk reaction, it is because the latest Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) report spotlighted numbers that are not quite parade worthy. The fact that overweight or obesity categorisations have soared from 17 percent in 2006 to 26 percent in 2022 makes clear the undisputed fact that Uganda has a weight problem.

There is a rich body of evidence that attests to the fact that expanding waistlines can shorten lives. In Uganda, obesity is one of the biggest preventable causes of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes and cancer. It therefore makes a lot of sense for the government to try and tackle what is for all intents and purposes a worsening public health situation.

We offer critical praise because of our strong belief that the remit should go beyond Ugandans for whom MDAs cut monthly cheques. As the latest UDHS report shows, the tentacles of Uganda’s weight problem spread far and wide.

Ugandans from all walks of life—children inclusive—continue to be adversely affected by obesity. And while sedentary lifestyles have contributed to the problem, the intolerable damage they wreak cannot be handled singularly.

Indeed, there are other root causes of obesity that the government would do well taking note of. The mushrooming of schools without playgrounds has, for one, led to childhood obesity. The government also continues to be conspicuously silent about how or if indeed it intends to address the excessive consumption of the highly processed, high-salt, high-sugar products that cause obesity.

It should also not be lost upon the government that calorie-rich, cheap foods that predispose Ugandans to NCDs are now a mainstay on the menus of people dotting poorer areas. As a matter fact, thanks to, among other variables, the impact of extreme weather, it is costlier to eat well (i.e. natural foods). Yet the relationship between excess weight and poverty continues to elude the gaze of state actors. State intervention in this growing public health crisis is long overdue. The requisite arm of government (i.e. the legislature) should by now have entertained the thought of stitching together a new health bill.  Also, since — per the latest UDHS report — degree-holders are less likely to be slimmer than people with no qualifications, the need to articulate constructive policy ideas cannot be stressed enough. Limits on junk food advertising and other unhealthy promotions should probably be considered.  Fiscally, a sugar and salt tax would not be an unwise idea.  All of which goes to show that there is no silver bullet to solve this public health issue as Ms Nakyobe Mbonye would want us to believe.

Our commitment to you

We pledge:

• To be accurate and fair in all we do.
• To be respectful to all in our pursuit of the truth.
• To refuse to accept any compensation beyond that provided by Monitor Publications Ltd. for what we do in our news gathering and decision-making.

Further, we ask that we be informed whenever you feel that we have fallen short in our attempt to keep these commitments.