As Vietnamese are becoming more sedentary, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are putting a strain the health of young citizens nationwide.
The Joint Annual Health Review 2015 (JAHR) by the Ministry of Health and Health Partnership Group reports that almost a third of people over 25 years of age don’t exercise, reports VnExpress.
In addition, researcher Trang NH and associates also found in their five-year study Longitudinal Sedentary Behavior Changes in Adolescents in Ho Chi Minh City, which followed the habits of junior high school students, that non-school sedentary behaviors increased from 498 to 603 minutes per day between 2004 and 2009.
Lack of physical activity is one of the main causes of NCDs, including but not limited to obesity, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. According to JAHR, even though NCDs have become prevalent among both urban and rural populations, many people who have NCDs remain undiagnosed and untreated due to limited awareness.
In 2013, the Vietnamese government started a US$287 million project to get people to become more physically active and eat healthier, in order to raise the average height of Vietnamese people by four centimeters.
Video via VnExpress.
[Photo via VnExpress]
