03.10.2017

The growing popularity of fried chicken and pizza in parts of Africa underscores how fast food is changing habits and expanding waistlines

Obesity Was Rising as Ghana Embraced Fast Food. Then Came KFC.

The New York Times "(...) Ghana, a coastal African country of more than 28 million still etched with pockets of extreme poverty, has enjoyed unprecedented national prosperity in the last decade, buoyed by offshore oil. Though the economy slowed abruptly not long ago, it is rebounding and the signs of new fortune are evident: millions moving to cities for jobs, shopping malls popping up and fast food roaring in to greet people hungry for a contemporary lifestyle.

Chief among the corporate players is KFC, and its parent company, YUM! (...) But KFC’s expansion here comes as obesity and related health problems have been surging. (...) Most affected by rising obesity here: women living in cities. A study published last year in the journal BMC Medicine found that obesity among urban female adults in Ghana was 34 percent, compared to 8.3 percent for women in rural areas; among urban men, the rate in was 7 percent, compared to 1.3 percent in rural areas." (Photo: Marufish/flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)