A mother discovered on the phone of her daughter, a dangerous game by WhatsApp that promotes anorexia and bulimia. Through terrible challenges like getting high, taking a sip of water for every tablespoon of food, eating ice cubes and cutting yourself in the extremities is that the players win the challenges.
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The game called Ana - for anorexia - and Mia - for bulimia - invites participants to meet challenges to lose weight, and sets a time limit to lose a defined amount of kilos, regardless of health complications, which can be fatal . In fact, the participants do not consider these diseases as eating disorders, but as a way to look and feel good about themselves.
Although blogs for pro Ana and pro Mia have been around the world for several years, the trend of challenges for chat communities is recent in Colombia. In Valle del Cauca, authorities have already reported five cases of young people who have been subjected to the challenges.
In Cali, a mother reported that her 12-year-old daughter exhibited strange behaviors for almost two months. She said that she did not eat because she did not like her body, and that when she did she vomited immediately afterwards. Even, on a couple of occasions, he noticed lacerations on his arms and legs.
Concerned, the mother decided to investigate and described in the middle of last November that in the girl's cell there was a WhatsApp group with people from different countries, such as Argentina, Cuba, Chile and Mexico, where they gave advice to stop eating.
Cesar Valencia, youth coordinator of the Department of Social Development of Valle del Cauca, told El Pais that as the case of the child under 12 years have received reports of other children who make drastic diets, which contain less than 500 calories to the day. He added that the challenge already caused anorexia to one of the girls and bulimia to another.
The official also said that "a warning voice should be sent to public and private schools and to parents, because the main responsibility for children's welfare lies in the home." And he asked to limit them and control access to the internet and electronic devices.