{"id":244337,"date":"2025-11-20T06:21:38","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T10:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/?p=244337"},"modified":"2025-11-20T08:46:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T12:46:42","slug":"minister-of-public-health-victor-atallah-calls-obesity-the-new-local-epidemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/2025\/11\/20\/minister-of-public-health-victor-atallah-calls-obesity-the-new-local-epidemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Minister of Public Health Victor Atallah calls obesity the new local epidemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Victor-Atallah-Diario-Libre-1024x578.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-244371\" width=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Victor-Atallah-Diario-Libre-1024x578.png 1024w, https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Victor-Atallah-Diario-Libre-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Victor-Atallah-Diario-Libre-768x433.png 768w, https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Victor-Atallah-Diario-Libre-1536x867.png 1536w, https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Victor-Atallah-Diario-Libre.png 1776w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dominican Republic is grappling with one of the most pressing public health crises of recent decades, with newly released data showing that over 70% of the country&#8217;s adult population is now classified as overweight or obese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The alarming figures were presented by the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) at the International Forum on &#8220;Public Policies for the Prevention and Reduction of Overweight and Obesity&#8221; held this week, Diario Libre reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Public Health Minister Victor Atallah, a functional medicine practitioner, has brought to the Ministry of Public Health his emphasis on prevention to combat disease. During the forum, he described obesity as the new epidemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The rising prevalence of excess weight is not confined to adults; it is increasing across the entire age spectrum, according to the 2024 National Micronutrient Survey. The findings of the study reveal that 6.4% of children 0-6 years are overweight, and of these 4% are obese. Likewise, the survey indicates that 16.2% of school age children (6 to 18 years) are overweight, with 13.1% obese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The survey also highlighted a particularly worrying trend among women of reproductive age: 29.8% are overweight, 31.8% are obese, and 4.8% suffer from severe obesity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Health authorities point to sedentary lifestyles and the regular consumption of ultra-processed foods as a key driver of the epidemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This dietary shift, combined with increasingly sedentary lifestyles, significantly raises the risk of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension, and various cancers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Minister of Public Health Victor Atallah Laham delivered an emphatic appeal to families and productive sectors to take their part in prevention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Everything begins at the earliest ages,&#8221; stated Minister Atallah, underscoring the urgency of implementing effective public policies and community interventions to reverse the alarming trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more in Spanish:<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.diariolibre.com\/actualidad\/salud\/2025\/11\/19\/el-sobrepeso-y-la-obesidad-afectan-a-mas-del-70--de-los-adultos-en-rd\/3327845\">Diario Libre <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>20 November 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Dominican Republic is grappling with one of the most pressing public health crises of recent decades, with newly released data showing that over 70% of the country&#8217;s adult population is now classified as overweight or obese. The alarming figures were presented by the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) at the International Forum on &#8220;Public &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/2025\/11\/20\/minister-of-public-health-victor-atallah-calls-obesity-the-new-local-epidemic\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read more\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[337,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244337"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244337"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":244372,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244337\/revisions\/244372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}