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How the WHO Acceleration Plan to Stop Obesity is unlocking country action
May 28, 2024 @ 7:30 am - 9:00 am
No country is immune to the impacts of the obesity epidemic. In 2022, 37 million children under the age of five and 2.5 billion adults (18 years and older) were overweight. Of these adults, 890 million were living with obesity. To make matters even more pressing, the earlier prediction made that over one billion people live with obesity by 2030 has already been surpassed. The health risks caused by overweight, and obesity are increasingly well-documented and understood. In 2019, higher-than-optimal BMI caused an estimated 5 million deaths from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, neurological disorders, chronic respiratory diseases, and digestive disorders. This combination of fast-rising prevalence and significance as a risk factor for other NCDs means that obesity now represents one of the major public health challenges of our time. If nothing is done, the global costs of overweight and obesity are predicted to reach US$ 3 trillion per year by 2030 and more than US$ 18 trillion by 2060, affecting upper-middle-income and higher-income countries the most.
At the 75th World Health Assembly in 2022, Member States adopted new recommendations for the prevention and management of obesity and endorsed the WHO Acceleration Plan to Stop Obesity. It is designed to stimulate and support multisectoral country action across the globe. Drawing on policies that are already tried and tested and based on implementation and delivery science, the plan offers the prospect of a step change in delivery and impact in the efforts to tackle the growing crisis of obesity.
WHO has joined forces with UNICEF to scale up the response to the obesity epidemic through this plan and as of now thirty-two countries across the 6 WHO regions have committed to be the frontrunner countries. While mixed results across and within the frontrunner countries can be anticipated, the aim is to ensure collective accountability where success can instruct, motivate, and inspire and where slow progress through the cycle will indicate where review and possible re-allocation of resources is needed.
This high-level side event aims to highlight the need to accelerate the global response to the obesity epidemic and increase the political commitment to combat this major public health challenge. It marks the two-year anniversary of Acceleration and provides a platform for the frontrunner countries to celebrate their success and highlight the challenges needed to be overcome.