The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has defended that childhood obesity is "a matter of State" due to the high prevalence rates of this disease in children, for which he considers that Spain "has an urgent problem to solve".

This was highlighted by Sánchez during the

presentation of the National Strategic Plan for the Reduction of Childhood Obesity

, which was presented this Friday at the Juan de la Cierva Sports Center in Getafe (Madrid).

A plan about which

some autonomies have expressed their discomfort,

because, unlike other strategies such as cardiovascular health or mental health, the one that has been presented today has

not gone through discussion bodies such as the Public Health Commission or by the Interterritorial Council.

The World Health Organization (WHO)

, whom the Chief Executive has thanked for his work against obesity and during the COVID-19 pandemic, describes obesity as

a "global epidemic".

"It conveys the magnitude of the problem and the urgency of implementing measures to tackle it. It is one of the most important risk factors for human health worldwide," Sánchez detailed.

The president has pointed out in this regard that

obesity "has become one of the biggest social and health problems of the 21st century", taking into account that the number of overweight children and adolescents in the world "exceeds 340 million"

.

"In the last two decades it has doubled. The speed at which it is increasing is even greater," he lamented.

In line, he recalled that

four out of ten children and three out of ten adolescents in Spain are overweight

.

"This situation stems from the social inequality that we unfortunately suffer in our country, exacerbated by the financial crisis, the pandemic or the rise in prices due to the war," she blamed.

Sánchez has placed special emphasis on the relationship between poverty and obesity.

"The rates are especially high in children who come from very low-income households

, who are twice as likely to suffer from obesity. Poverty is reflected in health indicators," she has indicated.

Likewise, he has also referred to gender: "Although boys have higher rates than girls, obesity in girls and adolescents has doubled in the last 20 years, a trend that we must pay attention to."

For all these reasons, Sánchez has assured that

the Plan, which aims to reduce excess weight in childhood by 25 percent and the associated social gap by 40 percent

, aims to "guarantee one of the most important rights, the of those most vulnerable people, who need everyone's commitment".

"Growing up healthy is not always easy. It is not just about the will of children and families, which I am convinced they have, but there are many obstacles that can prevent that goal, such as not having access to healthy food , not having spaces to play or do sports, or something as vital as getting enough sleep at night", he exemplified, to which he added that "not sleeping the right hours doubles the risk of obesity in children".

Thus, the president has riveted that the fight against childhood obesity "involves us all".

"Not only to families, but to all administrations. In short, together we all have to ensure that children and adolescents have the same opportunities for the future, that their starting conditions do not count to achieve a full life", he concluded.

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