Contextual Trend in Preventing Obesity Epidemic in Developing Countries: Role of the Key Players

Today, the World Health Organization warns that the greater future burden of obesity and diabetes will affect developing countries with the extent doubling with urbanization. Aside from the estimation that, currently, more than 1.6 billion (age 15+ years) adults are overweight and at least 400 million of them are obese, it was also estimated that obesity account for 2-6 % of the total health care cost in several developed countries and some estimates put the figure as high as 7%. The true costs are undoubtedly much greater as not all obesity related conditions are calculated. Some developing countries aim to attain the millennium development goals (MDGs) by 2015, which prospects the reduction in rate of tuberculosis, malaria, maternal and infant mortality rates, and childhood malnutrition, however little or nothing is done to curb the ever-growing obesity epidemic and its accompanying non-communicable diseases (NCDs) burden. The fact therefore is that, the devel-oping countries’ health sector garbles with the double burden of disease from the threat of both NCDs and infectious diseases. This review based on literature search from PubMed, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar aims to highlight the prospects of preventing and managing the obesity epidemic in developing countries through a multifactorial, multidimensional and proactive approaches. It concludes on the need for a less cost effective, multi-sectional, far reaching population based intervention plan by the key players of the health sector in such countries which should incorporate the need for regular exercising, good nutritional habits, body weight image assessment and reduced stigmatization of affected individuals.