In South Africa, obesity related illnesses are the number one cause of death – HIV the fourth.
Think South Africa, think HIV – but somewhere in the past decade that has changed. Obesity related illnesses are the number one cause of death – HIV the fourth.
50 per cent of adults are overweight or obese.
Dr. Nomathemba Chandiwana, is an expert in HIV but in recent years has been exploring the intersection with obesity.
She told Channel 4 News that almost 60% of women are living with overweight and obesity, and that this is set to double in the next decade.
“We need to throw everything that we have now for us to prevent a disaster,” she said. “You know, for comparing HIV, 8 million people living with HIV.”
“We have about 25 million people living with overweight and obesity.” – Dr Nomathemba Chandiwana
An official survey recently published described the triple burden of undernutrition, hidden hunger and overweight or obesity due to inadequate diets.
There are even question marks over HIV drugs changing the fat cells – saved from one disease only to develop another.
But research due to start on this has now been cancelled following the slashing of the budgets from USAID and the Pepfar fund, set up by President George W. Bush for HIV and Aids.
Weight loss drugs
While there are now weight loss drugs like Ozempic, these are only available in South Africa privately and are priced well-beyond the pockets of many.
At a gathering of women with type 2 diabetes in Mitchell’s Plain, outside Cape Town, the women there laughed when I asked them if they had been told about these drugs. Most of them would have qualified because it is licenced in South Africa for type 2 (caused by obesity).
Not only had their doctors not discussed it with them, they said it was beyond their pensions to afford them.
Gyms are too expensive
I asked them, too, about exercise. Again, they said the gyms were too expensive and they added that to go running outside risked ‘being robbed or raped’.
The Desmond Tutu Foundation has now set up a health campus with a sexual health clinic on site and a gym, the membership is the cost of a loaf of bread each month.
Dr Chandiwana said this was a model they were hoping the South African Government and other governments could take away. “This is an integrated way of having a sustainable, healthier population, especially in adolescents.”
The South African Government has introduced some measures to tackle the problem but experts say it needs to go further in order to protect the future of the population.
Watch more:
USAID – severity and speed of cuts causing despair in South Africa
‘If NHS can afford it, people with obesity should have Semaglutide,’ says weight loss expert
The ‘catastrophic’ impact of Ugandans leaving to work in NHS
