Non-communicable diseases on rise, eat healthier foods to curb the health challenge,

BY SAMUEL NABWIISO

The deputy Director General of Food and Agriculture Organization Maria Helena Semedo has warns that although people staying hungry in the world has gone up, the world is also observing an unprecedented rise in overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases

Speaking at the Third High-Level Event on Non-Communicable Diseases taking place on the side-lines of the UN General Assembly, Semedo sounded the alarm on the need to reverse current trends where more than one in every eight adults in the world is obese and over 38 million children under five are overweight.

 "Today we are witnessing the globalization of obesity; this is due to our increasingly poor diets which have become one of the major risk factors of premature adult deaths."  The deputy Director said.

According to  the Director ,Unhealthy diets are closely linked with non-communicable diseases - which  may  include heart attacks, strokes, cancers and diabetes -  and contribute to six of 10 the risk factors of the Global Burden of Disease.

Not only do non-communicable diseases cause human suffering, they hinder economic and social development, derail GDP, weigh heavily on health care costs and contribute to poverty. Equally worryingly, non-communicable diseases disproportionately affect people in low- and middle-income countries.

 

To avert such health burdens the FAO boss urging for the Rethinking of the food systems which most people are consuming this will help in lowering the problems of non-communicable diseases in the world. 

She said that Food and agriculture will continue to play a major role in preventing non-communicable diseases by improving food systems for better access to healthy diets.

“Yet, today's global food markets have given rise to products that are very energy-dense and high in fat, sugar and salt. These foods are often cheaper, more readily-available and easier to prepare than fresh food."We urgently need to rethink our food systems and food environments and make healthy, nutritious foods affordable for everyone," said Semedo. 

Semedo

She cautioned UN member states to ensure that there National agriculture and investment policies s advocates for incentives for sustainable food systems that provide cheap, healthy foods. These should be double duty actions where programmes and policies simultaneously address under nutrition, overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases.