Abdul Karim Salim - Cairo

Egypt has been witnessing a large official campaign against obesity since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi criticized the high rate of obesity among Egyptians, demanding awareness campaigns about its dangers and the need to promote sports education in schools. Will the presidential campaign succeed in combating obesity among Egyptians?

"The results of the 100 million health survey," Sissi said at the opening of a project last week, "have a significant indication that people with a normal weight estimate of 25 percent and the rest are obese and overweight."

The Egyptian president asked the citizens, "Do we work in our hearts like this?" Before talking about 20 minutes about the need for Egyptians to exercise, he said he sometimes sees obese people and asks himself, "What people do not want? How can you walk like this? "

What is silent stomach
But the president, who has decided to campaign against obesity, knows, according to experts, that the tables of millions of Egyptians depend on "what keeps the stomach silent and not what builds the body," such as cheap carbohydrates and fats instead of proteins such as meat, which is experiencing a marked rise in prices.

In Egypt, nearly 30% of the current 98 million people live below the poverty line.

The World Health Organization says there is a clear link between obesity and poverty, and obesity leads to a number of noncommunicable diseases (chronic) responsible for most deaths in Egypt.

The Ministry of Health and Population launched a national campaign to early detection of obesity, anemia and stunting among primary school students in cooperation with the Ministry of Education.

The campaign measures length, weight and hemoglobin, provides treatment for students with anemia and short stature in health insurance clinics, and design a card to record student data and test results, according to health and education ministry officials.

The results of this survey are expected to help the country reassess the school feeding system, helping students to grow healthy, if it pays off.

Will the presidential campaign succeed?
"Nutrition is not only low, it also causes obesity, under a combination of fats and carbohydrates that lead to accumulation of fat and increase weight," confirms nutrition expert Reem Habbal, which confirms that the Egyptians usually rely on food on rice and bread to counter Hunger, high-calorie foods with extreme nutrient deficiencies for the health of the human body.

The ropes, in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, emphasize that it is difficult to control the overall weight of people as "government decisions." This is subject to many considerations, the most important of which are the adoption of awareness-oriented means and procedures aimed at enhancing people's view of healthy life and changing their ideas, behaviors and lifestyle. Led to their weight gain.

Teaching proper nutrition
For her part, the nutrition consultant of the National Nutrition Institute, Saleh Saleh, called on Sisi to address obesity. He called on the Ministry of Education to teach the subjects about proper nutrition and sports education in schools and universities.

According to Saleh, countries such as Somalia and Mauritius have launched proper nutrition campaigns in schools, requiring the Ministries of Supply and Agriculture to participate in the campaign to distribute healthy food products such as protein and fruit through mobile vehicles on the streets of these ministries.

Doctors Initiative
Professor of Nutrition and Dean of the Faculty of Home Economics, Helwan University, Ashraf Abdel Aziz, is currently working with a group of Egyptian nutritionists to prepare an initiative to eradicate obesity. The initiative will be presented to the National Committee for Nutrition in the Academy of Scientific Research.

Abdul Aziz stressed the need to adopt all ministries in Egypt, led by the ministries of agriculture, information and supply for awareness campaigns on proper nutrition to eliminate obesity.

He cited countries such as Britain, which introduced a compulsory diet in some institutions, where staff were overweight, and during a short period of time the campaign succeeded in reducing their weight.