It’s a sunny Sunday afternoon at one of
Nairobi’s up-market malls and the perfect day to catch up with the
children over snacks, lunch and probably dinner on the family’s day out.
As
one family drives into an almost full parking lot, the youngsters in
the back of the car crane their necks in anticipation at the fast-food
feast that awaits.
The doors are flung open and out
jumps a seven-year-old boy and his sister, who is a year or two younger.
The pair barely pauses to listen as their mother issues instructions.
“No fighting today, Tracy and Jayden. Otherwise we will leave for home with no lunch! Okay?”
“Sawa basi,” the children respond, almost in unison, the more common way of saying “that’s fine” in urban society.
This
family of four makes its way to the food counter where the children
eloquently read out their favourite food on the overhead menu as if they
are reading from a school chart.
“Today, I will have a medium Hawaiian pizza with extra topping and a big soda,” Jayden says.
Tracy quickly places her order. “I will have two pieces of chicken and chips. Oh! And vanilla ice cream with chocolate topping.”
The
orders are served, and the siblings sit at a nearby table and tuck into
the food as their parents make their order and pay the bill. An hour
later, the family is done with lunch but not before the two children
order take-away French fries and kebabs for dinner.
Welcome
to the urban middle-class and rich society where health experts are
raising the alarm over the increasing number of inactive children who
eat poorly, are physically inactive and spend more time watching TV or
before the computer compared to their peers a decade ago.
In
a report released on Friday, Kenyatta University researchers presented
findings showing that urban children are growing fatter than their
counterparts in rural areas, exposing themselves to lifestyle diseases
like diabetes and hypertension at an early age.
Kenya’s
2014 Report Card on the Physical Activity and Body Weight of Children
and Youth” was prepared with the help of three Canadian organisations in
collaboration with the university.
It is based on
analyses of data on Kenyan children and youth since 1986 and the
recently concluded International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle
and Environment (ISOCLE-Kenya).
“The aim of the study
was to determine the relationships between lifestyle behaviours and
obesity in a multi-national study of children in order to inform policy
and practice,” said lead researcher Vincent Onywera, a senior lecturer
at the university’s Department of Recreation Management and Exercise
Science.
The researchers are worried that
energy-saving devices are turning children into junkies and dummies
before puberty, putting their future health at risk.
Among
the factors considered for the survey were children’s waist
circumference and body mass index (BMI), which measures fatness in
proportion to one’s height, age and gender. Dr Onywera attributes the
trends in towns to a shift from active traditional lifestyles to the
sedentary behaviour such as watching TV instead of playing outside.
According
to the study, rural children were more physically active than their
urban counterparts largely because they engaged more frequently in
household chores, walk to school and play more often in open spaces.
The
2014 Report Card is the second assessment completed in Kenya after the
first study on the lifestyle habits of children and youth was conducted
and released in 2011 by the same researcher. It also shows that boys are
more active than girls because of what the researchers attributed to
role-modelling.
“Parents tend to assign boys masculine
tasks, for example, sending them on errands, while girls are discouraged
from venturing out,” Dr Onywera notes.
The study of
1,479 pupils in Nairobi found that 23.6 per cent were overweight or
obese, with more children from private than public schools and more
female than male pupils in this category.
Dr Onywera
also blames the problem on parents’ predilection for gadgets, which
means that children spend little energy on domestic chores and
entertainment. “The paradox is that children born to highly educated
parents are fatter than those whose parents have less education. The
reverse is the case in more developed countries,” Dr Onywera says.
The
study sampled 6,000 10-year-old children from 12 countries in Europe,
Africa, the Americas, South-East Asia, and the Western Pacific.
Collaborating
researchers were Dr Stella Muthuri, Dr Lucy-Joy Wachira, Dr Mark
Tremblay, Dr Florence Kyallo, Dr Robert Ojiambo, Dr Joseph Kibachio, Dr
Muthoni Gichu, and Dr Peter Bukhala.
“Rural youth spend
part of their leisure time engaged in physically-active household
chores, while their urban peers reported pursuing largely sedentary
activities such as studying, watching television, and listening to the
radio,” the researchers found out.
But it is not all
rosy in rural areas where children face malnutrition and were more
likely to be underweight. Dr Onywera notes that today more children take
either the school bus or are driven to and from school compared to
their parents who walked, rode a bicycle or ran to their institutions of
learning as they grew up within the same age brackets.
“Ninety-nine
per cent of rural parents and 89 per cent of urban parents reported
walking, running or cycling to and from school when they were young,” Dr
Onywera said, calling for policy makers and implementers to roll out
road safety measures that encourage walking to school.
Consultant
paediatrician Mary Limbe agrees there is a greater number of
overweight and obese children today than there was two decades ago due
to a shift from active to sedentary lifestyles.
“There
is a false notion that being fat is healthy. On the contrary, growing
fat is the uncontrolled increase in weight,” Dr Limbe warns, adding that
Kenya is heading in the direction of countries where fast food and soft
drinks adverts proliferate.
“Our media is awash with
all types of promotions, and cities are ‘littered’ with competing
billboards,” adds Dr Limbe, also a senior lecturer at Aga Khan
University Hospital.
She calls for the revision of the
school curriculum which she describes as “choked” because it encourages
theory subjects and rote learning.
“For sustainability, the activity should be one that the child enjoys or family can participate in together, like swimming.”
Nutritionist
Gladys Mugambi, who works at the Ministry of Health, told the Sunday
Nation that the onset of unhealthy eating begins when women are pregnant
and this carries over to infancy, to toddlers and to children as they
enrol in schools.
Mrs Mugambi said children not
exclusively breast-fed for the first six months drink and eat things not
appropriate for their age, mainly starchy foods and sugary drinks,
progressing towards being overweight.
“At school-going
age, these children carry snacks purchased at the kiosk that contain a
lot of fats and sugars accompanied by carbonated soft drinks,” she said,
adding that this rooted the culture of unhealthy eating.
She
urges parents to introduce healthier foods at an early age so that
children do not form poor eating habits, adding that as they grow older,
health education is critical. “Parents should also avoid stocking
high-fat and high-sugar foods in the house and introduce physically
engaging activities,” Mrs Mugambi adds.
“Children
usually learn from their parents, who should be active too. There should
be a timetable for children to help them not to spend most of the time
inactive or watching TV.”
Psychologically bullied
In
addtion to disease risks, Mrs Mugambi warns that obesity in children
exposes them to psychological problems from constant teasing and
bullying by their peers.
“Obese children are not able
to play like other children, making them develop low self-esteem. At
times they avoid being with other children because they do not feel
comfortable. Many of them may be lonely,” she says.
The
government has released guidelines on infant and young child feeding,
and there exists a guideline for school health in which nutrition is
part of the school health policy.
Dr Onywera recommends
the development of national sedentary behaviour guidelines for Kenya.
He further proposes continuous monitoring of physical activity patterns
and emphasises the need for more education and advocacy on the health
benefits of physical activity and exercise.
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