The Parliament of the Canary Islands has passed a non-binding proposition to classify obesity as a chronic disease within the common service portfolio of the National Health System and to adopt the necessary measures to fund the pharmacological treatment of obesity through this system.
The agreement also calls for the creation of a comprehensive plan to address and detect obesity early, with special attention to childhood obesity. "Data shows that 23.1% of the adult population in the Canary Islands suffers from obesity, and when we look at children, the situation is even more alarming: 35.5% of the Canary Islands' child population," it was added. "Furthermore, the Canary Islands is the second autonomous community with the highest obesity rate in all of Spain," the deputy warned, also recalling the "extremely high" cost that this health problem already has for the health system.
The initiative, defended by Nueva Canarias, was backed with 54 votes in favor and 3 abstentions from the Mixed Group (Vox). Deputy Raquel Noemi pointed out the "serious problem" that obesity represents in the islands, a disease that goes beyond being "an aesthetic problem," as it is a "chronic and multifactorial" pathology that, in many cases, is a direct consequence of the "inequalities" that persist in the territory.
The group urged the Government of the Canary Islands "to deepen the existing plans or to promote a new one for the acquisition of healthy habits in the child population," said Galván. From the Canarian Coalition (CC), Vidina Espino specified "the concern" over a problem in which the regional government, warns, is already working, exemplifying this work with the approval of the Integrated Care Pathway for Overweight and Obesity in the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS), a "pioneering" document in Spain, which proposes an "integral" approach to a disease that it recognizes as "chronic".
