A few weeks ago I reported about the burgeoning problem of obesity in Mexico, where a staggering 70% of the population is overweight. Worse still, 40% of all Mexican women and 33% of all men are clinically obese -- that is, overweight to the extent that they are likely to develop serious medical complications at some point in life. Included in these troubling numbers are four million obese children. http://mexicogulfreporter-supplement.blogspot.com/2011/11/obesity-presents-severe-risk-to-mexico.html.
The statistics are particularly dire in this state. About 37% of all children and young adults here (aged 5 to 19) are overweight. And Yucatán leads the nation in obese children age five to nine. The state government has decided to get very proactive about the problem of endemic obesity in a young nation where regular physical exercise is not the norm, but the consumption of rich, high fat content food is.
On November 29, Yucatán legislators approved a new anti-obesity law which will go into effect January 1, 2012. Key provisions of the law include the requirement of 30 minutes of daily exercise in all schools; the prohibition of the sale of "junk foods" in school facilities; minimal nutritional (and sanitation) requirements for food prepared in school cafeterias; implementation of programs to diagnose and treat obesity and eating disorders; exercise centers and facilities for obese children in primary schools; the offering of proper nutrition courses to parents of school age children; and regular "healthy eating" campaigns. Fines may be imposed against schools or educational personnel who fail to implement the new anti-obesity law.
Today Yucatán governor Ivonne Ortega Pacheco announced that the state will soon begin offering free gastric by-pass procedures to those who qualify. Eligible candidates must be between 15 and 60, must undergo rigorous clinical and psychological examinations and must have repeatedly tried and failed to lose significant weight by conventional methods. In addition, candidates will have to pass a means test ("lack of means" might be a more accurate description), demonstrating financial inability to pay for the surgery. In Mérida a by-pass typically runs 150-200 thousand pesos (about $11,000-$15,000 USD, at the current average exchange rate of 13.5 pesos to the dollar).
Two "test" candidates have already had the free surgery, one in October and one in November. The results of their procedures will be presented next year, by which time doctors hope that they will have lost about 60% of their pre-surgical weight.
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