JAMAICA has a growing childhood obesity problem, and the latest evidence should leave little room for complacency.

The 2026 Global School-Based Health Survey (GSHS) shows that 31.7 per cent of Jamaican adolescents surveyed are now overweight, up sharply from 21.7 per cent in 2010 and 23.3 per cent in 2017. The increase in obesity itself is even more alarming — from six per cent in 2010 to 15.3 per cent today.

These statistics represent thousands of young Jamaicans whose health trajectories are being altered, potentially for decades to come.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton is, therefore, right to sound the alarm in his column in this week’s Sunday Observer. He correctly points out that the problem cannot be reduced to an occasional sugary drink, fast-food meal, bag of chips, or evening spent on a tablet. The real danger comes when these occasional choices become habits.

The GSHS paints a disturbing picture of the environment in which these habits are developing. Physical activity among students has fallen from 23.2 per cent in 2017 to 19.6 per cent in 2026 while the proportion spending more than three hours a day in sedentary activity has risen from 56.4 per cent to 68 per cent. More than 70 per cent of students reported getting less than eight hours of sleep.

Dietary habits are equally concerning. More than four in 10 students — 41.3 per cent — said they had eaten no fruit during the seven days before the survey, while only 27.5 per cent reported eating vegetables at least once a day.

We should not fool ourselves about where this trajectory leads. If overweight and obesity among adolescents continue to rise, we can expect greater risks of diabetes, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases in adulthood. That, in turn, means a health system already under pressure will have to accommodate a growing burden of chronic illness.

Dr Tufton is right to emphasise the importance of breaking unhealthy patterns before they become entrenched. We support his call for greater attention to nutrition, physical activity, sleep, and the habits children develop at home and elsewhere.

Undoubtedly, parents and guardians have an important role to play. The home is where many lifelong habits are established, and adults have considerable influence over what children eat, how much time they spend on screens, and whether physical activity becomes part of everyday life.

Yet we must also acknowledge the economic reality confronting many families. Healthier food is not always the cheaper or more convenient option. Sugary drinks, highly processed snacks, and fast food can be considerably more affordable and accessible than healthier alternatives. A parent struggling to stretch a limited household budget cannot simply be lectured into making choices that may cost more.

That reality, though, does not diminish parental responsibility. In fact, it makes the wider responsibility even clearer. As such, the State cannot afford to slacken its push to ensure that healthier choices are practical and affordable. Schools, too, must examine what foods and drinks are readily available to students and ensure that the school environment reinforces, rather than undermines, nutrition education. Additionally, industry must accept responsibility for how unhealthy products are marketed, particularly to children.

The cost of doing nothing will eventually be measured not only in poorer health and diminished quality of life, but in the mounting demands placed on families, workplaces and the public health system.

Jamaica cannot afford to wait for that bill to come due.