According to a recent report on Obesity, 4 billion people or half of the world’s population will be obese by 2034. While obesity is an issue with high income countries, World Obesity Federation found out that lower income countries are the ones facing its rapid prevalence. World Obesity Atlas 2023 says that the cost of obesity related issues would be $ 4 trillion globally by 2035. The share of obese people in middle income countries could jump to 66% among men and 70% for women even as the rate of increase in obesity prevalence appears to be slowing down in some rich countries. The chief reason for rising obesity in poorer countries include a shift towards more highly processed foods and greater levels of sedentary behaviour.
Adult obesity in India is projected to grow at an annual rate of 5.2% till 2035 whereas Child obesity is projected at 9.1% rate till 2035.
Rang De Neela, a social organisation aims to create awareness on metabolic health to drive a behavioural change in the society. Their primary focus is raising awareness around metabolic health related problems like obesity, diabetes and helping people understand why their management is necessary and how to do it.
The organisation run by Dr. Ami Shah and Dr. Rajiv Kovil focusses on crafting nations’ health through the artisans and weavers community.
They have so far supported/ promoted 16 artists and they have pledged to become advocates of good metabolic health and encourage, educate people around them to eat right, sleep well, exercise regularly, and smile often. These artists’ art was promoted at an exhibition in Mumbai.
The organisation’s work has been supported by Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy CM of Maharashtra. They have actively involved artisans, weavers, musicians from local villages and others and align their efforts with various doctors on board to achieve community awareness and bring an overall change to the health of people. They are making use of art, music and storytelling to raise awareness.
The doctors associated with the organisation want to come forward to drive this necessary change by helping people become aware of it. They travel to various locations to map the artisans, weavers and musicians and work with them to reach the community level in spreading awareness about the condition and organisations work. The organisation’s logo is a peacock whose blue color represents the health workers. The feathers of the peacock represent 28 states, the leaves represent 8 UTs and the crest atop its head represent the 5 themes of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, The country’s richness and diversity is beautifully integrated in the form of our National Bird.
This year the organisation’s focus is to spread awareness around limb amputation that can be an after effect of diabetes highlighting in this the defence personnels who have lost a limb due to this or serving in higher altitudes.