The prevalence of overweight and obesity of six to nine year old black African children in a rural town of Mpumalanga

摘要

The aim of the study was to determine the Body Mass Index with regards to overweight and obesity of Black African children between the ages of six and nine years who were enrolled in three rural public schools within Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The researcher used a quantitative descriptive research design. Each child’s weight and height was measured and their BMI and BMI percentile for gender and age calculated. According to the BMI percentile calculations for gender and age for the sample which consisted of 902 children, three percent were defined as being underweight, 79 percent as being normal weight, 11 percent as being overweight, and seven percent as being obese. In the sample there were also 21.3 percent children who were at risk of becoming overweight (3.5 percent) and obese (17.8 percent). Without intervention these at risk learners may in their adolescent and adult years be adversely affected by the physiological and psychosocial consequences related to their condition. Suggestion is made to utilise a Forum through which various stakeholders can pool their expertise and resources to develop a programme of intervention with the aim to prevent escalation of overweight and obesity, as well as reversing the current prevalence as identified within the research population.