Health experts in Rwanda are worried about the rising number of obese people. As countries enforced lockdowns locked down in March, most elite citizens relaxed on their couches and forgot about their work-out schedules.
Rising obesity is worrying health practitioners as research suggests morbidly obese patients are twice as likely to die with COVID-19.
According to the British NHS, fat people are more susceptible to COVID-19 symptoms than people who are not overweight.
Private Kamanzi, a dietician at Amazon Nutrition Cabine, a health clinic in Kigali states that the change in people’s lifestyles during the lockdown may have given rise to obesity.
“Different studies have shown a possibility that the combination of isolation and subsequent socioeconomic hardship and deterioration of psychosocial health might result in long-lasting effects on metabolic health,” Kamanzi told the Rwanda Times.
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In some countries like the UK, the government is expected to announce new measures to curb high cases of obesity arising from effects of the lockdown.
Dr Alison Tedstone, the chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said the current evidence was clear, that being overweight or obese puts you at greater risk of serious illness or death from Covid-19, as well as from many other life-threatening diseases.
"Losing weight can bring huge benefits for health - and may also help protect against the health risks of Covid-19," she said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is also reported to have renewed efforts to tackle obesity.
“Losing weight is hard but with some small changes we can all feel fitter and healthier,” Johnson said in a statement.
“When I went into ICU, when I was very ill, I was way overweight,” Johnson said in a video posted to his official Twitter account to launch the campaign.
Scientists state that most obese people already have underlying health issues or are at high risk of developing illnesses like heart disease and hypertension.
Florence Uwamwezi, the founder of Slim n’ Fit – an organisation that supports overweight women based in Rwanda capital Kigali also echoed similar sentiments.
“People were not busy during the total lockdown. This led to an increased food consumption rate, hence increasing weight” she said.
Uwamwezi also pointed out that stress can lead to eating disorders. “Out of frustration, you find that stressed people tending to eat too much food," she told the press.
The existing strategies to contain the spread of Covid-19 should not act as a pretext of adding weight, Uwamwezi warned.
In the UK, the country with the highest levels of obesity in Europe, almost two-thirds of adults in England are overweight the BBC reported.
Supporting people to achieve and maintain a healthy weight through exercise and good nutrition may reduce the severe effects of obesity on the population, especially among vulnerable groups who are susceptible to COVID-19.
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