43% of students aged 5 to 19 are obese: Study

DOHA: Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday launched the results of the growth-monitoring programme for school students between 5-19 years for the academic year 2015-2016 in Qatar which shows that 43% percent of the total students who participated in the programme were overweight or obese

The collected data included 164,963 students from 296 private and government schools. The programme was implemented in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Primary Health Care Corporation and Hamad Medical Corporation.

It was found that about 43 percent of the total students who participated in the programme were overweight or obese with almost equal proportion of overweight (21.2%) and obesity (21.5%). Combined overweight and obesity prevalence was 44.8% and 40.4% among males and females respectively and 45.6% and 40.9% among Qatari and non-Qatari students respectively.

The highest prevalence of overweight and obesity was found among Qatari males (47.3%) followed by Qatari females (44%), non-Qatari males (43.5%) and non-Qatari females (38.3%).  Age groups saw a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity seen among 10-14 year-old students.

Dr Shaikha Al Anoud bint Mohammed Al Thani, Manager of health Promotion and Non-communicable Diseases at Ministry of Public Health, said that the results are useful in supporting and strengthening existing public health programmes and policies.

She stressed that the programme to monitor the growth of school students in Qatar between 5 and 19 years is considered as a part of the National Action Plan for Nutrition and Physical Activity in Qatar 2017-2022.

She added that the health of children and adolescents is a priority of the National Health Strategy 2018-2022, which aiming to reduce the burden of obesity and non-communicable chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and high blood pressure among the Qatari community.

Dr Shaikha Al Anoud added that national targets related to this category to increase the number of adolescents who achieve the recommended levels of physical activity by 25%.

The objectives of this ongoing programme includes developing a database and surveillance system on weight and height distribution in schools for early detection and diagnosis of overweight, obesity and underweight students, Monitoring and evaluation on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of various programs, reducing the burden of obesity and related non-communicable diseases.

It also aims to encourage students to follow a healthy diet and regular physical activity in and out of school environment.

The programme was comprised of taking accurate measurements of weight and height and calculating body mass index (BMI) which is an important indicator of physical wellbeing in determination of body weight composition.

The programme aiming to assess children and adolescent health by using this approach to identify malnutrition, underweight, overweight, and obesity status among youth and transfer these cases to Primary healthcare centres and hospitals.