The Department of Health (DoH) has expressed concerns over the growing rate of obesity and short stature among Thai children, saying this needs to be addressed urgently.
Speaking after a meeting with his officials to develop physical activity programmes to address the health issues on Wednesday, Bancha Khakong, DoH deputy director-general, said health problems facing Thai kids have become a serious issue.
Dr Bancha cited data he obtained from the Public Health Ministry which said the obesity rate of Thai children was found to be higher than the target value of 10%, saying the obesity rate of kids between 2018, 2019 and 2020 has risen to 11.8%, 13.6% and 12.78% respectively.
He said those children, who are short at the same time, were also found to exceed target obesity values by 5% to 5.7%, 8.9% and 5.9% respectively.
To address these health problems, he said the…
