Empowerment through exercise: Ugandan women fight obesity

Image credit: Reuters

The exercise class is part of a project aimed at reducing increasing rates of noncommunicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease and has attracted more than 1,000 people since it began five years ago.

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While famine and malnutrition remain major concerns in several African countries, obesity is increasingly on the march, especially among Ugandan women.

Jane Anonyaalaba, a grandmother, is one of those looking to buck the trend. She used to struggle with high blood pressure, persistent aches and occasional paralysis in her limbs.

"I would breathe with difficulty. Climbing a hill was almost impossible," the 70-year-old said.

Now, she bends over double to whack three tennis balls with a cricket bat before running between a set of blue plastic wickets.

A quarter of a century ago, just 4% of Ugandan women were obese, but that figure had more than doubled to 10.4% by 2019, according to the latest available dataset provided by the Global Nutrition Report, which tracks global nutrition.

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By comparison, male obesity had risen to just 2.3%.

Weekly fitness clubs like Kivubuka may be a model for a local, low-cost approach to supporting ageing communities across Africa, where 17% of adult women and 6.8% of men are obese.

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As people lead more urban, sedentary lifestyles and eat cheaper ultra-processed foods, the continent is becoming more obese, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Obesity has brought a corollary rise in deaths: around one-third of Ugandans died from NCDs in 2016, almost double the number in 2000.

"I want to think and believe that there (has been) a change in their lives," said Isaac Imaka, who organises the club on behalf of the Gabula Royal Foundation, a charity established by a Ugandan traditional leader.

"This... is a place where you can come and find a new friend, and just have something to talk about."