Palau is listed as among the top countries predicted to have high risk of acquiring significant childhood obesity problem in 2030, an international non-profit organization said.
Palau earned a maximum risk score of 11 along with other Pacific island nations such as the Cook Islands, Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Niue that are predicted to have significant children obesity problem in 10 years, according to the first Atlas of Childhood Obesity data released by the World Obesity Federation (WOF) in October 2019.
The Atlas of Childhood Obesity stated that it determined obesity based on the growth standards of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The same data revealed that obesity among Palauan children with ages 5-9 was at 40.0 percent and obesity among adolescents with ages 10-19 was at 30.4 percent in 2017. Both of these are expected to increase by 44.7 and 40.1 percent by 2030, respectively.
It also predicts that the number of obese children with ages 5-19 in the country will reach 2,491 after a decade.
It also estimated that Palau has zero chance of achieving the WHO target of ‘no increase of obesity prevalence by 2025’ if current trends are assumed to continue. (Rhealyn C. Pojas)