The Prevalence of Obesity, Overweight and Hypertension among Market Women in Rural Areas

Obesity is rapidly becoming a prominent disease in, developing countries hence, this study assessed the prevalence of obesity and overweight among market women in three rural areas. A total of 1140 market women were randomly sample from three major markets of these villages. Questionnaire was used to obtain socio-demographic information while anthropometric indices were obtained using standard procedure. However, only 100 valid questionnaire were analysed. The result showed that 12% of the respondents were overweight, 25% were mildly obese, while 14% and 9% were moderately and severely obese respectively. Also, assessment of their waist hip ratio showed that 78% of them were centrally obese. The study also showed that 13.1% and 6.1% of them were mildly and moderately hypertensive. Therefore, there is need for enlightenment program for rural women on obesity and the associated risk of cardiovascular diseases.