Women outweigh men in obesity
Priya Yadav
[ 20 Aug, 2006 0212hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
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CHANDIGARH: The latest National Family Health Survey for Punjab is a mixed bag, but may reveal some interesting projections for Chandigarh too. The good news first. In what may be seen as a big leap in the direction of containing population explosion, Punjab has attained the replacement fertility level of two children per woman. Now the bad news. An alarming 38% women and 30% men are obese in the state with those in the urban areas bulging more than those in the rural hinterland.
On an average, women in Punjab are giving birth to two children each as against three recorded by National Family Health Survey in 1992-93. Though the overwhelming practice of female sterilisation remains unabated, the methods of containing families have changed.
The survey, conducted by CRRID in Punjab, was among the first five released by the ministry of health along with the states of Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Orissa for the year 2005-06. Involving nearly 3,000 households, which included nearly 3,700 women, and over 1,300 men, the survey was done in ‘‘Punjab has evidently stepped into the third stage of demographic transition, representing a tendency toward global stabilisation of population. It is attributed primarily to the rise in adoption rate of family planning from 51 to 56%,’’ says Gopal Krishan, director Population Research Centre at Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), who headed the survey.
Though the sharp decline in infant mortality rate - from 54 to 42 per thousand during 1992-93 to 2005-06 - might make the state health authorities swell with pride, bulging bellies among adults is a serious cause of concern. Clearly a fallout of changed lifestyle, nearly one in every two women in urban areas and one in every three in rural areas were recorded as obese.
Fewer babies are dying undue deaths since more and more people, an increase from 47% to 69%, are getting a doctor or nurse or ANM to assist deliveries. The percentage of underweight children under the age of three has recorded a steep fall from 46 to 27%. The percentage of children who were too thin for their height also came down from 21 to 9%.
On the worrisome front 80% of children in the age group of six months to three years are recorded as suffering from anaemia. However, the euphoria over an improving health scenario might just turn into despair for the state health authorities since data on incidence of HIV and sex ratio at birth is awaited.
Obesity in Women
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