2023-04-30 23:46:00
- With the current projection, 50% of schoolchildren born after 2010 will live with diabetes in adulthood.
- It is expected that by 2030 at least 7 million Mexican girls and boys between the ages of 5 and 19 will live with excess body mass.
- The costs to address childhood obesity in Mexico amount to 650 billion pesos per year.
Food is necessary for anyone at all stages of life. But while a few decades ago the biggest problem was malnutrition, now it has gone to the opposite extreme marked by excess. Currently the Childhood obesity is one of the greatest adversities that Mexico faces.
Our country presents one of the greatest challenges in public health due to malnutrition. It currently occupies one of the first places in obesity worldwide, and notes a particularly rapid increase in childhood obesity. If current trends continue, it is expected that by 2030 at least 7 million children between the ages of 5 and 19 will live with this condition (43% of the population).
The childhood obesity it not only affects the quality of life, education, physical and mental health, but also has catastrophic and unsustainable economic consequences for the country. Medical care amounts to more than 650 billion pesos (3% of GDP) and these costs do not take into account other risk factors such as diabetes.
One of the main determinants of the childhood obesity epidemic is poor nutrition, triggered by unhealthy environments, accompanied by excessive and aggressive advertising of unhealthy products that invade any environment where girls and boys live, including schools; and the State is the one that should watch over and protect the well-being of students and guarantee their rights as a priority above any public and private interest.
The current situation in schools in our country
The school has an invaluable role in society, it is there where the future of our country begins to be built. However, today they are spaces that make the rights to education, health and well-being invisible. Studies carried out by El Poder del Consumidor, showed that 97% of schools nationwide do not comply with the current regulation on the sale of food and beverages, which allows the consumption of fried foods, sweets, snacks, and sugary drinks to continue to be encouraged. . The consumption of these products represents almost half of the daily calories in just five hours of the school day.
In addition, during the 2020-2021 school year, girls and boys were exposed to up to 20 advertisements for products not recommended only on educational platforms, without taking into account any other digital media, motivating the desire to consume unhealthy products that violate their development. These scenarios contribute to the alarming projections, in which it is expected that 50% of schoolchildren born after 2010 will live with diabetes in adulthood.
The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) and international organizations have called on the Mexican government to prioritize school feeding policies as priority, feasible and profitable actions to combat the epidemic, recognizing that good health, nutrition and well-being are essential to maximize social potential.
The outstanding debt of the State: unfinished promises with the well-being of children
Civil organizations called on all political forces to take urgent action so that children and adolescents can fully develop in guarantee of their rights, and for this they must:
- Approve in its terms the initiative with a Draft Decree that reforms various provisions in the General Education Law on food health in schools. The minute is in the Senate Legislative Studies Commission, and has not yet been voted on.
- Update the General Guidelines for the Sale and Distribution of Prepared and Processed Food and Beverages in Schools of the National Educational System, in which the sale, sale and advertising of ultra-processed products is prohibited. Said regulation was designed more than 12 years ago with a conflict of interest in favor of the food industry.
- Enforce the provisions established by the Sanitary Control Regulations and the Regulations of the General Health Law on Advertising, as well as the prompt publication of the corresponding guidelines, which regulate the advertising of ultra-processed products on TV, internet, digital media, physical spaces and other media. Currently, children are highly exposed to misleading advertising in various media and public spaces.
- Deny any draft ruling against Frontal Warning Labeling by the National Supreme Court of Justice as an action to protect the health of children. The government has the obligation to protect the rights to health and food, and the rights of children in the face of any pressure from the food industry.
Also read:
The city in the world with the highest rate of childhood obesity is in Mexico, do you know what it is?
Banning “junk” food is the solution against childhood obesity in Mexico?
INFOGRAPHIC: The current situation of childhood obesity in Mexico
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