Multiple international studies say that cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and Type 2 diabetes are high in South Asia, and overtake the numbers found in many other parts of the world. This was borne out by a seminar in Karachi, at which cardiovascular specialists pointed out that the rate of cardiovascular disease, including among people between 20 and 40, an extremely young age, had risen by almost 150 percent over the past two years. Studies on diabetes have shown that at least 26 percent of Pakistanis suffer diagnosed diabetes Type 2, or Adult Diabetes, while the rate of hypertension or high blood pressure is also increasing with each passing year. Experts have blamed eating habits, a sedentary lifestyle, a lack of awareness about the dangers of these conditions, and the change we have seen in the way we live over the years as the key reasons for these findings and the deaths that they cause.
Given the impact of these diseases, we need to find solutions. The simplest of these is a change in lifestyle, which should mean less fast food, an awareness about good eating habits inculcated in people from a young age and even at school level as well as a greater emphasis on physical exercise, sport and recreational activities which include physical movement of any kind. Sadly, we appear to be a country which discourages even its young people from engaging in sport. A study by the Ayub Hospital in Abbottabad has also found growing rates of obesity among children. This is ironic in a country where malnutrition is so high.
But the key factor is that we need to encourage sport and exercise of every kind among every age group. Yes this will be difficult in some cases, but it should be possible for everyone, regardless of background and economic condition, to take a walk each day and to ensure they do so for a moderate period of time in the week. This adds up to around 45 minutes of exercise for adults in a day and for the children under 18 experts recommend at least an hour or physical activity each day. Again, it is somewhat strange to ask this of a nation where the majority of people belong to a working class background – without the amenities of even basic living. This is where the state must step in. Exercise and a healthy lifestyle include access to good nutrition, recreational facilities, healthcare, potable water – all of which is largely inaccessible to the majority of Pakistanis. We must begin a movement which encourages healthy eating, more exercise and a state that recognises all this as a right for its citizens.