Almost half of women in Africa will be obese or overweight by 2030, according to a new study, an "alarming rise" that has been "compared with the HIV epidemic", said The Guardian.
Unlike in most regions, where the obesity gender gap is "much smaller, or reversed", women in Africa are almost twice as likely to be overweight or obese as men. The latest data from the World Obesity Federation suggests that, similarly to HIV, stigma and lack of access to treatment have a "disproportionate impact on women". And that trend is "accelerating".
Africa is grappling with rising obesity rates linked to the "proliferation of unhealthy diets" and increasingly sedentary lifestyles, said regional experts on The Conversation. This has a gendered element: women often stay at home caring for children, in a more sedentary way, while men "typically work outside the home".
Urbanisation also plays "a major role", said Nomathemba Chandiwana, chief scientific officer at the South Africa-based Desmond Tutu Health Foundation. "Many African cities lack safe spaces for physical activity," she told The Guardian, which makes exercise harder for women. HIV treatments "add another layer" to the problem. In countries with high HIV rates, such as South Africa, weight gain related to antiretroviral drugs is "disproportionately affecting women".
In general, obesity "feels like HIV but more compressed", added Chandiwana. "We've got a disease we don't quite understand, it's there, we're not doing much about it. The drugs are kind of there, but not available. Stigma is also an issue."
But the parallels could also spark positive action. In South Africa, where more than half the adult population (and more than two-thirds of women) are overweight or obese, society is "drawing on the lessons from tackling the HIV epidemic", according to the World Health Organization. The fight to reduce the stigma of HIV has been "valuable experience" for current efforts to do so around obesity, and to improve access to treatment. | 
