New Delhi, Sep 11 (IANS): As India continues to carry the world's third highest burden of obese people, doctors have said that Obesity is a state of mind and can be tackled by taking simple initiatives.

"Obesity is a state of mind and can be just tackled by being happy while taking minor initiatives to get rid of it. People should not be under the impression they can do everything to get rid of obesity," Praveen Bhatia, Chairman, Institute of Minimal Access and Bariatric Surgery, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, told IANS.

Bhatia spoke at the launch of the campaign 'Let us fight the Fat' in partnership with the Delhi Medical Association (DMA) held on Sunday at Connaught Place.

Parliamentarians Udit Raj and Sakshi Maharaj attended the event. 

According to the Indian medical statistics, obesity has gripped 30 per cent of the school-going children due to the sedentry lifestyle and lack of physical activities.

During the campaign, attended by over 700 people, several patients who underwent bariatric surgeries and lost 20-30 kg also participated and shared their experience on the initiatives and steps needed to be taken for a person to be in shape.

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions worldwide, with around 2.8 million people dying every year as a result of being overweight or obese.

"People do not have time to take care of their weight problems. By organising such campaigns, we want to raise awareness among them to take some simple steps to keep their weight in control, which can give rise to several problems such as diabetes, hypertension, heart diseases, infertility, joint pains and sleep apnea," said Bhatia.

DMA President Rakesh K. Gupta said: "We have also collaborated with Indian Association of Muscular Dystrophy and Family of Disabled for rasing awareness on obesity."