50 percent of Kenyan women who have at least a secondary school education are either overweight or obese according to the new data contained in the Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS) released on Monday with the main reason being “poor lifestyle choices.”
According to the survey, 50 percent of Kenyan women aged 20 to 49, with more than secondary education, are either obese or overweight compared to 26 percent of women with no education. Most of the overweight women are found in urban areas.
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The survey that is about to rattle a section of the population went ahead to state that a woman is more likely to be obese if she lives in an urban area, with 43 percent of women in the same age group reporting being overweight or obese compared to 39 percent in rural areas.
On the contrary, only 20 percent of men within the same age group are obese. At the same time, the percentage of women falling into the obese category has increased, with the numbers rising from 38 percent in the 2014 KDHS to 45 percent in 2022.
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Overweight and obese are risk factors for noncommunicable diseases such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and coronary heart disease which have been among the leading causes of death among Kenyans. The Ministry of Health has identified it as a problem and is laying down plans to address it.
Whereas genetics play a role in one being obese, researchers blame poor lifestyle choices people make for themselves and their young children. In Nairobi, researchers have blamed parents for destroying the lives of their children by feeding them junk food, leading to many of them being obese.
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