Privilege Pulls Qatar Toward Unhealthy Choices
Qataris live in a nation no larger than the state of Connecticut where they are a minority among the more than a million foreign workers lured here for jobs. But their problems are not unique.
Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia all share similar struggles with obesity, diabetes and genetic disorders, each suffering the side effects of an oil-financed lifestyle and a desire to hold on to traditions.
Yet, even in this neighborhood, Qatar stands out.
According to the International Association for the Study of Obesity, Qatar ranks sixth globally for prevalence of obesity and has the highest rate of obesity among boys in the Middle East and North African region. A recent article in the Qatari newspaper Al Watan said that local health experts predicted that within five years, 73 percent of Qatari women and 69 percent of the men would qualify as obese."
""You can't tackle the issue," said Moza al-Malki, a family therapist and writer. "There are some big families, clans, they don't marry outside the family. They won't allow it."
The issue of obesity seems to run into the same wall of tradition, health experts here said.
"If you don't eat, it's considered a shame, and if you leave someone's home without eating it's a shame," said Abdulla al-Naimi, 25, who refers to himself as "chubby" but is noticeably overweight. "Half of my family has diabetes," Mr. Naimi said. "My mother has diabetes. Three cousins younger than me have diabetes. For me, I eat too much and I don't exercise."
He is also married to his first cousin."
