Prevalence of Obesity in School Children of Pakistan

The determinants of the obesity lie within the home and school environment and the overall sociocultural phenomena. Children are spending an alarmingly large part of their daily time on sedentary activities, mostly on television. Having minimal physical activity opportunities both at school and home and easier access to energy rich fast foods are the major determinants of obesity. All the stakeholders in the society; government, education and health authorities, city planners and managers, transport, religious leaders and policy makers at the national and local level must realize that the childhood obesity has become a serious problem in Pakistani society. A major responsibility falls on the parents who have to provide the children healthiest possible environment available in the area. This is also true in terms of helping the children avail any opportunity to play and preventing the children from eating unhealthy high calorie-poor nutrition foods. Further studies are required to see the effects of exposure to other factors in addition to physical activity.