News from Around the World: South Africa’s Obesity Costs Typical Across Africa

Obesity-related conditions and their complications across the continent of Africa may add up to nearly 10 percent of all health expenditure.

The costs of obesity and associated conditions add hugely to healthcare costs and productivity losses. In turn this adds a large burden on individuals, their families and on governments.

Research funded through the University of North Carolina, USA and the South African Medical Research Council to calculate the cost of obesity to South Africa’s health system found that overweight and obesity are costing R33 billion (US$1.9bn) a year. This represents 15.38% of government health expenditure and is equivalent to 0.67% of GDP. Annual per person cost of overweight and obesity is R2,769.

The prevalence of diabetes is rising across Africa and its many low-income countries and is impacting people of all ages.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says diabetes is a leading cause of blindness, heart attacks, kidney failures, stroke and leg amputations. And, while there was an overall decline in premature mortality from the four major noncommunicable diseases (diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, cancer and cardiovascular diseases) globally between 2000 and 2016, the rate rose by five percent for diabetes.

With diabetes among the most expensive conditions to manage there are calls for policies that would help to address the problem.

https://theconversation.com/obesity-costs-south-africa-billions-we-did-the-sums-188768

Advocacy Action: Does the WHO and its targets feature in debates in your parliament? Would you be able to highlight the international targets your country may have signed up to, and how they are, or are not, being met?

Global Advocacy News is the newsletter for members and friends of PDGN, the Parliamentarians for Diabetes Global Network.

Our primary objective is to enable law-makers to help prevent diabetes, encourage early diagnosis of diabetes and improve the treatment of diabetes in every part of the world. We exist to help advocates for diabetes and its comorbidities wherever they are.