Mauritania fights force-feeding of girls

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania, June 27 (UPI) -- Overweight women remain a standard of beauty in Mauritania, but many are beginning to understand the risks of over-eating, health officials say.

While an estimated one-third of Mauritania's women still intentionally overeat, that population is learning more about healthy eating through classes and short films sponsored by non-profit advocacy groups, IRIN reported Saturday.

"We show a 12-year-old who has the tired sagging flesh of an unhealthy 40-year-old woman," said Mintou Mint Moctar, spokeswoman for a group called Female-Headed Household. In the film, the overweight girl is forced into marriage and ends up divorced with children in an abandoned home.

Half of the 300 patients seen so far this year at the National Center of Cardiology Care, in Nouakchott, have heart health problems as a result of force-feeding and obesity, the center's Dr. Hadj Sarr told IRIN.

The problem is so wide spread the Mauritanian government next year is to start a program with the U.N. Population Fund to fight practices harmful to women, including force-feeding, IRIN reported.