Uganda, March 13 -- Childhood overweight and obesity are a growing burden globally with adverse social-economic outcomes.

In addition to the psychological effects where children diagnosed with overweight experience a loss in self-confidence, their risk of obesity and associated diseases is higher than that of their normal-weight colleagues.

Since they are likely to transit with this weight into adulthood, they are more liable to suffer from conditions such as heart disease, compromised reproduction capability and type 2 diabetes, which are expensive to treat due to their chronic nature.

About 10 years ago, Finland had 1 out of every 5 children classified as overweight. In this same period, countries in sub-Saharan Africa recorded an in...