MINSAP 2
Obesity, a pandemic in the world
Obesity, a pandemic affecting more than 1 billion people in the world
According to the results of the National Health Survey Cuba 2020, 20% of the total population under 15 years of age is overweight, although by region, a lower proportion is apparently observed in rural areas.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Obesity is no longer just a problem of developed nations. Photo: Reuters
Obesity, with accelerated growth in the last decades, has come to be considered the pandemic of the 21st century.
According to the website of the Cuban Ministry of Public Health (Minsap), this condition has tripled its figures since 1975.
The United Nations (UN) warned this Friday, on World Obesity Day against this disease, that in the year 2025 some 167 million people will be in poorer health due to overweight or obesity, which affects more than 1 billion people.
According to a press release from the organization, this disease affects 650 million adults, 340 million adolescents, and 39 million children.
On the other hand, it is estimated that at least three out of every ten children and adolescents, between five and 19 years of age, live with overweight in Latin America and the Caribbean, adds Minsap.
In 2020, UNICEF, the WHO and the World Bank estimated that 7.5% of children under five years of age in the region were overweight, which represents nearly 4 million children. This figure exceeds the world average percentage, which is 5.7%, emphasized the Cuban Ministry’s publication.
The COVID-19 pandemic intensified the problem with limited access to healthy food and lower purchasing power.
In Cuba, malnutrition and being underweight are not a health problem in the child population. However, overweight and obesity have been on the rise, according to isolated studies in children, as well as in adolescents and adults, according to Minsap.
These results demonstrated their association with the increase of different chronic non-communicable diseases such as arterial hypertension, ischemic heart disease, diabetes mellitus and certain types of cancer, among others.
According to the results of the National Health Survey Cuba 2020, 20% of the total population under 15 years of age is overweight, although by region, a lower proportion is apparently observed in rural areas. A similar behavior appears in the levels of obesity found, with a total prevalence of almost 20 %.
However, there is a trend towards greater overweight in adolescence, which could be explained by the pubertal changes that are beginning to occur. The higher figures of obesity in the youngest children constitute a warning of possible complications.
Minsap adds that in general, with respect to data from other studies carried out in our country, overweight and obesity have increased in the child population.
The negative effects caused by the increase in obesity worldwide are exported from one country to another, even reducing their economic productivity. Therefore, it is necessary to develop intervention policies that work to reverse this pandemic, the publication emphasizes.
Cuba reports 2197 new cases of Covid 19
Ministry of Public Health: Cuba reports 2 197 new COVID-19 cases
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
At the end of yesterday, October 16, 25,457 patients were admitted, 15,123 were suspected, 1,651 were under surveillance and 8,683 were confirmed active.
For COVID-19, a total of 30,359 samples were taken for surveillance during the day, resulting in 2,197 positive results. The country accumulates 10 million 172 thousand 672 samples taken and 934 thousand 965 positive.
Of the total number of cases (2,197): 2,189 were contacts of confirmed cases; 5 with source of infection abroad; 3 with no source of infection specified. Of the 2,197 diagnosed cases, 1,159 were female and 1,038 were male.
Of the 2,197 positive cases, 5.4% (118) were asymptomatic, making a total of 129,294, representing 13.9% of those confirmed to date.
The 2 197 diagnosed cases belong to the following age groups: under 20 years of age (495), 20 to 39 years of age (488), 40 to 59 years of age (681) and over 60 (533).
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Of the 934,965 patients diagnosed with the disease, 8,683 remain hospitalized, of whom 8,428 have a stable clinical course. There were 8058 deaths (21 during the day), with a case fatality rate of 0.86% vs. 2.04% in the world and 2.45% in the Americas; two evacuated, 55 returned to their countries. During the day there were 2,274 discharges, 918,167 patients recovered (98.2%). There are 255 confirmed patients in intensive care, of which 88 are critical and 167 are serious.
During the day, 21 patients died. We deeply regret what happened and convey our condolences to their families and friends.
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As of October 16, 190 countries and 32 territories have reported cases of COVID-19, with 241 million 65 thousand 235 confirmed cases (+ 436 thousand 600), 17 million 870 thousand 542 active cases and 4 million 908 thousand 8 deaths (+ 7 thousand 117) for a case fatality rate of 2.04% (=).
In the Americas region, 93 million 106 thousand 348 confirmed cases (+ 135 thousand 747) were reported, 38.62% of the total number of cases reported in the world, with 11 million 50 thousand 910 active cases and 2 million 282 thousand 106 deaths (+ 4 thousand 185) for a case fatality rate of 2.45% (=).
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