Bengaluru: Malnutrition is one of the biggest challenges faced by the poor families in the state. But in last one decade, problem of obesity has been slowly gripping the families, the people are becoming increasingly vulnerable to hyper-tension and diabetes. These issues were analysed in the National Family Health Survey, (NFHS 4 conducted in 2015-16) for Karnataka.
Over Weight, Hypertension and Blood Sugar are considered as life style diseases. Strangely these problems are increasing day by day in the state of Karnataka. What makes the NFHS 4 data more serious is that all these issues have been reported in the Rural Karnataka as well.
According to the report, the percentage of women who are overweight or obese increased from 15.3% in 2005-06 to to 23.3% in 2015-16. Men who are overweight or obese has increased from 10.9% to 22.1%. As expected, this problem is prevailing more among the urban population compared to their rural counterparts.
Report has also highlighted the issue of increasing blood sugar level. According to the report blood sugar level of 7.9% Urban and 5.1 Rural women are above the normal level (High Level) and that 4.2% Urban and 2.3% Rural women are facing the risk of Very High Blood Sugar Level.
As per the survey findings, compared to women, more percentage of men have blood sugar problem- 9.4% Urban Men and 7.7% Rural Men have blood sugar level above the prescribed limit. 4.8% Urban men and 2.9% Rural Men have Very High Level blood sugar issues.
Hyper tension: 7% urban women and 7.1% rural women have Hyper Tension slightly above normal level. 1.8 % Urban Women and 2.1 Rural Women have Hyper Tension at moderately high. 0.8% Rural Women and 0.6% Urban Women have Very high level of Hyper Tension.
Among the men, 12.5% Urban men and 11.7 % Rural men have slight Hyper Tension problem. 2.4% Urban Men and 2% Rural Men have Hyper Tension at moderate level. 1.4% Urban Men and 1% Rural Men have Very high level of Hyper Tension problem.
