The Gauteng Department of Health has raised concern over growing obesity levels among children, revealing that nearly a quarter of young people in South Africa (SA) are either overweight or obese.<\/p>\n
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According to the department, 23% of children aged between six and 14 fall into the overweight or obese category, a statistic health officials say reflects a broader shift towards sedentary lifestyles and poor dietary habits.<\/p>\n
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Public health experts have long warned that childhood obesity significantly increases the risk of developing non-communicable diseases later in life, including diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. The department says the figures underline the urgent need for early intervention and sustained prevention strategies.<\/p>\n
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Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko said obesity prevention must begin early and involve families, schools and communities.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe work with schools, parents, healthcare workers and partners to promote healthy eating, regular physical activity and supportive environments for our children,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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\u201cPrevention starts at home, at school and in our communities. We must encourage our children to move more, eat better and build healthy habits that will protect them for life.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The department says it will continue to monitor obesity trends as part of broader efforts to curb lifestyle-related diseases across the province.<\/p>\n
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–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":27636,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-27635","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Gauteng Department of Health has raised concern over growing obesity levels among children","published_date":"2026-03-04 07:19:07","news_description":"Gauteng Department of Health has raised concern over growing obesity levels among children","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/27635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/27635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27637,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/27635\/revisions\/27637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=27635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}