Hyderabad-based Council for Social Development has released a data-based bulletin to highlight the problem of obesity among women in southern States using data from National Family Health Survey (2019-21).
“It provides inputs for framing effective policy interventions, since it compares the Southern States with country level data,” says a press note by the organisation.
The data shows that the incidence of being overweight/obese is more among women than men in the age group of 15-49 years both at the country level (women 24%, marginally higher than men 22.9%) as well as in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In Karnataka and Telangana, the incidence is marginally lower among women. However, the levels are higher than the national average in all the southern States for both men and women, which is a cause of concern.
Between NFHS-4 and 5, at the national level, it increased by 3.3% and a similar pattern can be found across the Southern States as well. Telangana had the least increase at 2% while Tamil Nadu had the highest (9.5%), closely followed by Karnataka and Kerala (6.9% and 5.7%). In terms of residence and wealth category, the incidence is more tilted towards the urban and highest to middle level wealthier section of the society.
