South Africa activists for healthy food

It is at lunch at the lush land of the Kairos School for investigation in Randburg, South Africa.

Dozens of children are enthusiastically lined in front of a table loaded with large fresh hot food.

“Today in our list is Kitchari – a mixture of signifier and rice, with tomato sauce, Halome and salad.”

The school decided mainly a plant diet as part of an attempt to photograph a worrying global trend: for the first time, The number of children with weight gain has exceeded the number of children with weight loss.

The United Nations says that the number of adolescents with weight gain and obesity all over the world has doubled almost three times in the past two decades.

The number of children with weight gain between the ages of five to nine years increased from 69 million to 147 million.

South Africa is one of the most affected countries. In South Africa, the challenge of unhealthy diets begins early. Research indicates that nearly 80 % of children’s foods on the market are high in sugar, and children are also exposed through aggressive marketing of unhealthy products.

Parents in Kairos were asked to pack only full foods in lunch boxes for their children.

School principal, Mark, believes that the policy has provided an opportunity to teach students about the importance of healthy eating.

He said, “If all schools mimic our intention to be aware, conscious of what children put in their bodies … the health of children will be presented,” he said.

The popularity of increasing foods in the developing world is partly responsible for growing obesity among children, according to UNICEF.

“When she was younger, fast food was fun.

“I grew up with my grandmother, not in the best conditions,” she says. “Unwanted food was something we looked at because my grandmother did not always had money, so it was a symbol of celebration.”

For this reason, she says she has never thought of unhealthy fast food. Instead, it became ambitious.

But that changed when she moved to Pretoria, 19, to the university, as her student residence was at the top of a fast food restaurant.

With a crowded schedule, she says she found herself choosing food on cooking – and had a permanent effect on her health.

“Now I suffer from weight gain, it is something I am not proud of,” she says. “I have been bleeding as a child from eating a lot of sweets that I still have today. I have begun to have breathing problems.”

Her struggles pushed her to become an UNICEF advocate in her spare time. She wants more students to be familiar with the damage that fast food can cause to their health.

Poor and medium -income countries have seen the largest increase in children with weight gain and obesity.

But in poor countries, children with weight gain tend to be one of the richest families that can pay for high -calorie foods, in medium -income economies such as South Africa, more than people can go to fast food restaurants.

This led to an explosion in the number of chains throughout the country. The value of the fast food market in South Africa amounted to $ 2.7 billion (2 billion pounds) in 2018, and is expected to reach $ 4.9 billion by 2026.

UNICEF says more work is needed to prevent these companies from marketing to children and youth.

“Previously, we always blame the individual for not exercising enough, or we do not eat healthy,” says Jilbert Chitodesi, UNICEF Nutrition Manager.

“But we now know that this is not really the case. How do you expect the individual to live a healthier lifestyle if his environment does not enable them to do so?”

UNICEF says the South African government has advised to restrict the marketing of unhealthy food for children.

The constant presence of comfortable food is an additional challenge for parents who want to maintain the health of their children.

The eight -year -old daughter of Badi, Sofia, was diagnosed with rare autoimmune diseases (acute essential encephalitis) when she was 18 months old.

Sofia gave steroids to help her symptoms, but her mother believes that she led her weight to a balloon. She is now weighing 107 kg (236 lbs).

“Nutritionists can see this not related to food,” she says.

Mrs. Badi put her daughter on a low -carb diet, but she is still struggling to maintain her weight.

Supporters created social media pages to raise money for Sofia. Although Mrs. Badi says she cannot afford fast food costs, the attackers will sometimes buy him for her daughter as a treatment.

“We rarely go out, but when we do it, you sometimes ask about fast food. She is a child, so she wants these things.”

Mrs. Badi is currently unemployed and struggles to provide her daughter with the support she needs, including swimming lessons.

Sometimes it takes Sofia to walk in its neighborhood in Alexandra, a town near the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, but the traffic and the staring people make it uncomfortable.

The South African government provided higher taxes on sugary drinks in 2018.

But the increasing obesity rate in children – 22 % of children under the age of five has not stopped overweight or obese in South Africa, up from 13 % in 2016.

UNICEF says that countries need to improve access to local foods that are nurtured for children and adolescents.

“South Africa is known to be safe for food,” says Chitodesi. “But many families do not have money to reach more healthy options due to our high unemployment.”

In a BBC statement, the South African Ministry of Health says it is trying to encourage parents to give children healthy foods from childhood.

“Research indicates that approximately 80 % of children’s food on the market is high in sugar, and children are also exposed through aggressive marketing of unhealthy products,” notes.

The ministry says it plans to present a new policy, which requires signs of front nutrition, or FOPL, on products in order to address the problem of excessive quantities of sugar, fat and salt.

“The marketing of all products that carry the FOPL for children will be restricted and will also be allowed to make health claims,” ​​he added.

Once again at Kairos School, it is time to break. Children eat lunch boxes filled with fruits, vegetables and sandwiches made of speech bread.

Until governments can implement policies that can reflect the increase in obesity in childhood, institutions and individuals are left to protect the health of future generations.