Sedentarism, urbanization and epidemiological transition

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases related to the modern sedentary urban lifestyle has become one of the major public health concerns. Given that since Homo sapiens is a genetically designed species for an active life, the combination of urbanization and technology revolution is too recent allowed any genetic adaptation. Thus, sedentary habits are promoting an exponential increase in cardiovascular diseases, which have replaced communicable diseases as the main cause of mortality and morbidity in developed countries. As a result, a new research area i.e. the study of the relationship between physical (in) activity, physical fitness and health, and a concept of health-related fitness, has been developed. The way in which this new paradigm is equated within the context of African countries is controversial. Urbanization in Africa is stimulating an increasingly sedentary life style with no improvement in hygiene and sanitation conditions.  As a consequence, the epidemiological transition observed in the XX Century in industrialized countries is not happening in Africa. The growth of African urban centres is coinciding with an increase in the so-called hypokinetic diseases, including obesity and its comorbidities, with an existing and continuous high prevalence of communicable diseases. Studies in Mozambique confirm this trend. Overweight and obesity rates have increased in urban centers, at the same time as levels of population fitness have decreased and communicable diseases have maintained the same levels of frequency. It is recommended that research should be developed in order to identify the relationship between sedentary life style and health, as well as its determinants in different contexts, in order to establish intervention programs and public health policies.