Karachi (Special Correspondent): Calling obesity the \u201cmother of all non-communicable diseases,\u201d leading health experts on Monday warned that a vast majority of Pakistan\u2019s population has excessive waist circumference, placing them in the overweight or obese category.
They said the condition is silently fueling a national health crisis\u2014causing early deaths in men, infertility in women, and long-term complications in children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at a news briefing during a screening and awareness camp organized by the Karachi Press Club\u2019s Health Committee in collaboration with Getz Pharma, Dr. Asma Ahmed, an endocrinologist at Aga Khan University Hospital, cited survey data showing that 35 percent of women and 28 percent of children in Pakistan are obese, while over four out of five adults have unhealthy waist sizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She stressed that obesity must be recognized as a disease in itself, not merely a lifestyle issue, as it directly contributes to hypertension, diabetes, infertility, and organ damage.
Dr. Asma highlighted that sedentary lifestyles among children\u2014dominated by screen time, junk food, and late-night routines\u2014are leading to rising obesity. \u201cWe are raising a generation that is both obese and malnourished,\u201d she warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She also pointed out that many people remain unaware they have high blood pressure, and that untreated hypertension\u2014often linked to obesity\u2014is causing damage to kidneys, hearts, and brains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInfertility in women is rising, and in many cases, the underlying issue is weight gain and hormonal imbalance,\u201d she said and urged families to shift toward home-cooked meals and cut back on processed foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSudden lifestyle changes like sleeping late, lack of physical activity, and fast food consumption are pushing people toward a health disaster,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Nazish Butt, head of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), echoed the concern, saying obesity must be treated as a serious disease that leads to others like diabetes, cholesterol, heart disease, and stroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople have stopped exercising. In Karachi, we\u2019re seeing rising obesity among women and children due to sedentary lifestyles and increased use of junk and frozen foods,\u201d she said.
She warned that habits like staying up late and excessive screen time are worsening the crisis. \u201cWe must push for lifestyle reform at the community level and get people moving again,\u201d she emphasized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The camp at Karachi Press Club provided free screening and consultations for members and their families. KPC Joint Secretary Muhammad Munsif, Health Committee Secretary Hamid-ur-Rehman, and Getz Pharma representatives including Mikail Soomro, Agha Sadiq, Dr. Wajiha Javed, and Head of Public Health Kashif Amin were also present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Wajiha Javed, Public Health Expert at Getz Pharma, said the Pak Sehat baseline demographic survey\u2014the first mini Framingham study and biobank of the South Asian population\u2014revealed that over 80 percent of women and 70 percent of men in Pakistan are obese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAround 50 percent of adults have hypertension, and one in three is diabetic,\u201d she said.
To address undiagnosed hypertension and the lack of a standardized treatment plan, she announced a three-year national initiative titled PREACH, launched by Getz Pharma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe program involves screening by private community health workers, creating disease awareness, and building referral pathways to trained healthcare professionals,\u201d she explained. She noted that obesity has emerged as a major metabolic disorder in the South Asian population.
\u201cMedications like semaglutide and tirzepatide have been introduced in Pakistan and can support lifestyle change for patients with a BMI over 30, or over 27 with a related condition like diabetes or hypertension,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Wajiha added that Getz Pharma, under its Med One umbrella, is committed to working with healthcare stakeholders to promote disease awareness and screening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other health experts warned that obesity is no longer just a personal health issue\u2014it has become a national crisis. Tackling it requires urgent public awareness, early screening, and a cultural shift toward healthier\u00a0living.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Karachi (Special Correspondent): Calling obesity the \u201cmother of all non-communicable diseases,\u201d leading health experts on Monday warned that a vast majority of Pakistan\u2019s population has excessive waist circumference, placing them in the overweight or obese category.They said the condition is silently fueling a national health crisis\u2014causing early deaths in men, infertility in women, and long-term<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,31],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"category-national"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6389"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6394,"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6389\/revisions\/6394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}