Doctors said in addition to the healthcare system, various government bodies, schools and parents too had a responsibility. Kashmir faces a serious threat of “diabetes epidemic” owing to alarming prevalence of obesity among children here, a growing concern that doctors attribute to lack of physical activity and high intake of junk foods. One in three children in Kashmir is either overweight or obese, a study by SK Institute of Medical Sciences titled ‘Prevalence of obesity and over weight in school children in Kashmir, has revealed. The study that measured weight of over 9000 school children (between 5-15 years of age) across Kashmir’s schools has stated that 34.5% boys and 38.4% girls were overweight and obese. Expressing concern over the startling figures Dr Shariq R Masoodi, the lead researcher of the study, said: “These figures are cause of concern for our society. These children are not healthy, they are at great health risk,” he said. He said that people who were obese or overweight were more prone to get diabetes than people who had a healthy weight. With the world commemorating world diabetes day on November 14, many doctors Greater Kashmir spoke to said that much more still needs to be done to create awareness about Diabetes in Kashmir. “We need to act now. It is already very late,” Dr Muhammad Ashraf Ganai, senior endocrinologist at SKIMS said. He said that a number of misconceptions and myths regarding diabetes were prevalent in our society and these needed to be countered with the right information. Doctors said in addition to the healthcare system, various government bodies, schools and parents too had a responsibility. “A lot of people are talking about the vaccine for Diabetes these days, saying that the world has found a solution to the problem,” a doctor said. He said the Diabetes vaccine was meant for Type I diabetes mellitus and not type 2 diabetes that was largely prevalent in the society. “For us, the best vaccine is lifestyle modification. And it has to start from children,” he said. In 2015, government of India constituted committee mandated to look into the issues related to growing problems of obesity in children and its relationship with consumption of junk food submitted its report. One of the recommendations of the committee was to ban sale of junk food inside schools and within vicinity of 200 meters around the schools. However, in J&K, sale and consumption of junk food continues unabated, doctors said. While, these doctors said, some schools had “voluntarily removed” a lot of food items in the junk food category from their canteens and shops on the premises, they said a lot needed to be done. “Government must restrict sale of foods poor in nutritive values outside and inside the schools,” they said. Doctors have also laid emphasis on increasing the physical activity of children. Urging that children be encouraged to go out and play, Dr Masoodi said, “Our children are not playing enough, not involved in any physical activity. All they do the entire day is sit with the books, or with the electronic gadgets and television,” he said. Dr Masoodi said it was imperative that schools put as much emphasis on health of the children as they put on grades. Recommending a slew of measures that could help in decreasing the burden of obesity in Kashmir, Dr Javaid A Bhat and Dr Masoodi recommend that children be educated about nutritive values of the food items and how the nutrition is directly related to their weight and risk of developing diseases, including diabetes. How can the obesity be addressed? • Education regarding healthy food habits, nutritive values of food items, lifestyle and behavioural modification • Rregular health check up with emphasis on monitoring shape, weight and related parameters • Students should be taught about disadvantages & hazards of both obesity & underweight • Every student should be encouraged to take part in outdoor games & sports, irrespective of gender • Parents should be advised about obesity problems • Restrict time spend on phones, video games, & watching television • Restrict sale & advertising of fast food or packet food near schools, at other public places