Seven out of every 10 children in the age group of 13-15 years exercise for less than 60 minutes per day while more than one in five are overweight, placing them at a high risk of developing Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) which account for 60 per cent of all deaths in India, according to a report.
Stressing that there is a need to promote healthy behaviour among youths, the report said 19 per cent of boys and eight per cent of girls in the same age group have used a tobacco product in the past month.The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) report released today also recommended strenol-based interventions on diet and physical activity. "Promoting healthy behaviours among young people is key to curbing a growing epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs)," said Toshiko Kaneda and and Reshma Naik, who are the authors of the report 'Addressing NCD Risk Factors Among Young People: Asia's Window of Opportunity to Curb a Growing Epidemic'.
This comes in the wake of a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report which highlighted the problem of NCDs in India. Indians have a 26 per cent chance of dying prematurely between the ages of 30 and 70 due to the four major NCDs and they account for 60 per cent of all deaths in the country, according to the WHO.
The four main NCDs--cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, and cancers--are caused primarily by exposure to tobacco, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diet and too little exercise. These behaviours often begin in young age."Among 13-15 year-old secondary school students in India, 19 per cent of boys and 8 per cent of girls have used a tobacco product in the past month, most of this consumption is of non-commercially produced cigarettes-tobacco products like bidi, an inexpensive hand-rolled cigarette made of unprocessed tobacco wrapped in leaves,"
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