Posted: January 2, 2016. 7:19 p.m. CST.
By Aaron Humes: A study done by the Ministry of Health’s Central Region Office has found that six in every ten persons in the Belize District are either overweight or obese, while 7.4 percent were underweight. 
The Ministry’s end-of-year health bulletin reminds Belizeans that being either overweight or obese increases the risk of conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and hormonal issues.
In fact, hypertension, asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cerebral vascular disease were the top non-communicable diseases treated by the Ministry’s various hospitals and clinics in 2015.
The top communicable diseases were Gastroenteritis, Conjunctivitis (pink eye), Vaginitis, and Scabies.
The Ministry also reports that there were 29 infant deaths in 2015 up to October, an 81.2 percent increase over the same period in 2014.
Of these deaths, 10 were in children between ages 0-6 days; 9 between 7-27 days, and 10 between 28 days and 11 months.
Apart from the data, the ministry also issued public health tips on keeping healthy during the holidays. Those tips included avoiding foods high in sugar, drinking lots of water, and substituting unhealthy snacks with fruit.
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