According to recent data, if the current trend continues, in six years, 14-year-olds will be at risk for obesity at a rate of 12.8%, which is four times higher than the normal distribution. The consequences of this trend will also affect adults, with 25% of adults becoming obese and 58% becoming overweight in six years. This phenomenon is expected to cost the country NIS 20 billion per year, or about 1.4% of its gross national product.
The ministry has responded by encouraging health funds with NIS 20 million per year to establish clinics to treat obesity. However, there has also been an increase in smoking rates among Israelis between the ages of 16 and 74, with one in five smokers being men from a lower socioeconomic status. Direct and indirect smoking causes approximately 8,000 deaths every year.
MK Avraham Bezalel emphasized the need for urgent action on both issues due to their large impact on the population and their expansion every year. Prof. Nachman Ash agreed and called for a multidisciplinary approach to treating both obesity and excessive smoking, including prevention through health education and training for pediatricians and family physicians.
MK Yoni Meshariki emphasized the importance of reducing health disparities by promoting torture-free dedicated programs to prevent obesity and smoking among children and teenagers. He called for an emphasis on prevention through health education, training for pediatricians and family physicians in the field, as well as the establishment of multidisciplinary clinics for regular treatment of obesity in peripheral areas and designated populations.
As a first step towards addressing these issues, Mashreiki asked that the Ministry of Health recognize obesity as a disease while requesting that both Ministries of Education and Health submit plans to reduce smoking and obesity in Arab and ultra-Orthodox sectors.
