Why healthy living needs heavy lifting in Mexico

The picture is sobering – according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and its regional arm, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), two out of three Mexicans are overweight while every third Mexican is classified as obese; more than a third are affected by physical inactivity. In addition, 78% of all deaths are due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). These and other statistics can be found in the WHO’s NCD country profile for Mexico.

As a health public policy responsible, I have to concede that we have not been able to deal with the challenges as effectively as we wanted. NCDs are still posing a huge problem for Mexican society and are a major concern for every health professional in this country.

But diabetes, hypertension and obesity are not a problem for the government alone. To combat these chronic diseases effectively, we need to join forces as a society. The problem is so complex that the only way to deal with it is to include organizations and individuals from government, the private sector and society as a whole. Ultimately, only through a multistakeholder approach can we hope to bring the numbers down and ensure healthy living becomes more part of the Mexican way of life.

Following the World Economic Forum on Latin America in Puerto Vallarta in 2012, the Mexico Ministry of Health, PAHO, the World Economic Forum and Bain & Company have developed a toolkit to support the creation and implementation of multistakeholder partnerships. This is in line with the results of a recent PAHO meeting, held in Washington DC on 20 September, which puts the focus on prevention and control, as well as strengthening interventions to reduce NCD risk factor prevalence.

Thirty-eight countries agreed on these aspects and Mexico is doing its part to follow up on those agreements. This includes holding a workshop focusing on NDCs in Mexico City, Mexico, on 25 September. The aim is to sit down with all relevant stakeholders to work on actionable guidelines and eventually come up with specific action plans for Mexico.

Healthy living has to become much more than good intentions, it has to become a goal, a way of life. In order to do that, all Mexicans need to help as we still have heavy lifting to do.

Author: Pablo Kuri Morales is Subsecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion, Secretariat of Health of Mexico.

The opinions expressed here are those of the author, not necessarily those of the World Economic Forum.

Image: People practicing yoga in downtown Mexico City  REUTERS/ Henry Romero