Saxenda AN ANSWER TO THE OBESITY CRISIS?

Global obesity statistics are at an all-time high. In 2016, the World Health Organization reported that nearly 2 billion adults were overweight, of which more than 650 million fell into the obese category. Local estimates are that two-thirds of South African women and about one-third of South African men are either overweight or obese. Solutions to the problem are complex and often expensive but, as the pandemic highlighted, obesity is dangerous. Could a prescription drug be the answer to the problem?

Dr Jocelyn Hellig, a specialist physician and endocrinologist who has a practice at Life Kingsbury Hospital in Cape Town, believes weight-loss medication can be used to help some patients, although she emphasises that a change of diet and increased physical activity do help some people to lose weight, so that route to weight management should not be dismissed.

‘I know that most healthcare providers don’t prescribe weight-loss medication to patients living with obesity,’