AN AFTERNOON SANDWICH WITH A DIFFERENCE

It was a normal day for most of my countrymen and women who went about their regular activities .On my part, the day took me to Kasapa Telecom, one of the communication service operators in the country, to conduct an academic research I was engaged in. The visit to Kasapa did not go so well as I expected.

On my return, I joined a rickety commercial vehicle also known as “trotro” a popular means of transportation which tires where almost thread bare . The interior of the vehicle looked quite rosty and dirty.

I then entered the vehicle to find one of the seats to sit for myself . I sat next to a beautiful lady. She was a lady in her twenties and weighed between 200 and 250 kg who sat close to the left window of trotro .

The vehicle was about to take off when a young lady in her twenties stopped the driver to board the trotro . But there was a problem, this young lady also weighed close to 200 kg. This problem was about to blow in my face as there was only three sits remaining, one for the driver’s assistant leaving only two for this other lady to decide on.

All I could do was to say a little prayer for a miracle to happen, so she would not sit beside me. “God not another one, I know you like varieties that is why you created us unique but for once don’t let her sit beside me”. As I recited this prayer in my mind , this lady apparently had already decided to sit beside me long before my anxious prayer.

Now, I was completely sandwiched between two heavily built ladies. I could barely spell the word comfort because it was way out of my thinking.

The pain of being too little in the mix of two “giants” was frustrating for the first 20 minutes in the vehicle. I mastered courage to ask the ladies some questions. My first was whether they were aware of the health risk of being overweight. This question did not go down well with them from the look on their faces; however one told me she is not worried.

The prevalence of obesity is increasing at an alarming rate in many parts of the world. In the developed world, the prevalence of obesity is similarly high in men and women. However, in countries with relatively low gross national product, the prevalence is about 1.5 to 2 times higher among women than men.

A study among adolescents, published on Ghana Medical Journal website indicated that Obesity was found to be associated with ethnicity, gender and food habits but no significant relationship was observed with socio-economic factors or physical activity.

In other studies, the prevalence of obesity was higher among married women compared to unmarried women. A review of large-scale surveys on diet, activity and obesity showed that the speed of dietary and activity pattern shifts is great resulting in major shifts in obesity on a worldwide basis and that the burden of obesity is shifting towards the poor. Calorie intake, lack of exercise activity, and the time spent in traditional sedentary occupation are associated with obesity.

In Ghana, the work by Dr Albert Amoah of University of Ghana Medical School and his team in urban and rural Accra showed that the overall crude prevalence of overweight and obesity was 23.4 and 14.1 per cent respectively among adults aged 25 years and above. 

The rates were higher in females than in men. Obesity increased with age up to 64 years. There were more overweight and obese people in the urban high-class residents compared with the low class residents and in urban than in rural subjects.

It was highest among the Akan and Ga tribes and relatively low among Ewes. People with tertiary education had the highest prevalence of obesity compared with less literate and illiterate People. While those whose jobs were of a sedentary nature had higher levels of obesity.

The situation is quite difficult to solve as cultural and traditional attitude towards weight gain have to be overcome, for instance most women prefer to be overweight because that means they are “taking care of themselves”. The bad eating habits of people is another source of worry especially due to the notion that being slim means one is sick or suffering from a disease.

The situation is worst with the frequent broadcast adverts that tend to promote the message of eating, to gain weight instead of a balance diet . There are countless drugs being advertised on the various radio stations which glorifies obesity.

The health risk of being over weight is overwhelming with possible diseases as blood pressure, diabetes. Obesity is associated with an increased risk for some types of cancer including endometrial (cancer of the lining of the uterus), colon, gall bladder, prostate, kidney, and post-menopausal breast cancer and breathing problems.

With the prevalence of cancer related diseases on the rise, it is of concern that we all take measures in ensuring that we eat balance diets and also exercise frequently to avoid being obese. It is said that diabetes is also on the rise as many working Ghanaians are not eating early enough for food to digest before going to bed. In Ghana , there is a reverse in our eating habits, for instance, instead of eating any kind of meal early in the morning , we tend to rather eat light meals in the morning and heavy foods which are normally starchy in the evenings.

I strongly believe it is time for us as a nation to change our eating habits to avoid dying young. It is also time for the Ministry of Information and National Orientation and the Ministry of Health to take up such important issues to educate Ghanaians.