Paediatric obesity, where a child is overweight for his or her age, is a decades-old world health problem.
According to the World Health Organisation, 41 million children under the age of five years are obese.
Most people tend to confuse obese children with chubby babies as there is no major difference in appearance.
Some major causes of childhood obesity are lifestyle issues such as eating junk with low nutrients, genetics, babies born overweight and living in an environment.
This hinders them from maintaining a healthy weight as they spend most of their time watching cartoons, playing video games and even homeschooling.
Childhood medications can also cause paediatric obesity, where the child might have been under some prescribed medications that contributed to them adding extra weight.
Parents should therefore be counselled on high birth weight during their pregnancies to prevent childhood obesity and other health problems.
This then leads to early health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, breathing disorders like asthma, liver diseases, and joint problems.
These children tend to face discrimination from their fellow friends in school and at home, they grow up having low self-esteem as people confuse them to be bigger than their age.
There is also shyness, fear of engaging themselves in social activities and at times they feel lonely and neglected.
Parents should, therefore, be counselled on high birth weight during their pregnancies to prevent childhood obesity and other health problems.
Physical education should be made mandatory in daycares, kindergarten and primary schools.
Parents should also ensure an environment conducive to their children by not allowing them to take long hours watching televisions, too many video games, feeding them healthy foods and giving them extra work while at home.
If parents see obese symptoms in their children, they should seek doctors' advice on what to do.
Student, Maasai Mara University
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
