Peña launches health strategy

Friday, 01 November 2013 00:10 
BY MAURILIO SOTO
The News


MEXICO CITY – President Enrique Peña Nieto unveiled a national strategy to fight obesity and diabetes on Thursday.

In light of the serious health problems caused by obesity, Peña Nieto said said that his National Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Obesity and Diabetes will be a key manner to improve the health of Mexico’s citizens.

Six out of every 10 adults are considered to be dangerously overweight in Mexico, which surpassed the United States as the world’s most obese country earlier this year. One out of every three Mexican children is considered overweight or obese, while one out of every five deaths in Mexico is caused by diabetes.

Peña Nieto’s anti-obesity strategy is based around three pillars: The first is to promote healthy lifestyles through public awareness campaigns and other preventative actions, the second aims to closely monitor the health of the Mexican population to ensure timely diagnosis and treatment of obesity-related diseases and the third pillar will center around the adoption of sanitary regulations and tax policies designed to provide incentives for healthy living.

“Congress has approved changes to tax legislation that will substantially improve the health of Mexicans,” Peña Nieto said. “As proposed by the executive, sugary beverages will be taxed … as will non-basic foods with a high caloric density.”

According to Peña Nieto, both taxes aim to reduce the consumption of these products, which are closely associated with Mexico’s high obesity rate. These measures aren’t aimed at harming any company or industry in particular, he said, but aim at protecting the health of the country’s children and adolescents. He added that these taxes will be used to pay for obesity and diabetes prevention campaigns, as well as increased access to potable water in Mexico’s public schools.

As a follow-up measure, Peña Nieto said that the government will create a seal of nutritional quality for products that meet high nutritional standards, which he said will be an incentive for the food industry to redesign its products and provide healthier options.