Make obesity prevention and management central to public health, experts urge

Obesity must be recognised and treated as a chronic, progressive condition that affects people of all ages and genders, and must be integrated throughout primary, secondary, and tertiary care systems. This was the collective message from experts representing Ireland, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain who gathered in Dublin in January 2025 for the WHO Demonstration Platform on Obesity Management. These countries, working alongside WHO/Europe’s Special Initiative on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and Innovation (SNI) and the WHO European Centre for Primary Health Care, issued a clear call: health systems must elevate obesity prevention and management to a central role in the broader effort to achieve universal health coverage and reduce the burden of NCDs.

A Complex, Chronic Disease with Widespread Consequences

Obesity is a multifaceted and chronic condition that is strongly linked to over 250 other diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and several cancers. In the WHO European Region, an estimated 1 in 4 children and 60% of adults live with overweight or obesity. This growing prevalence poses a significant threat to achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.4, which aims to reduce premature mortality from NCDs, and has far-reaching implications for other development goals related to education, economic growth, and inequality.

With the global burden of NCDs continuing to escalate, experts are calling for immediate action to implement proven strategies. This demand aligns with the SNI’s Race to the Finish initiative to meet NCD targets by 2030 and gains urgency as the world prepares for the Fourth High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of NCDs in 2025 – a key opportunity to reinforce obesity as a public health priority.

Momentum for Scaled-Up Action

The 75th World Health Assembly marked a pivotal moment when countries endorsed the WHO Acceleration Plan to Stop Obesity. Building on this, in 2023 the WHO launched its Health Service Delivery Framework for the Prevention and Management of Obesity – a comprehensive, integrated model designed to guide nations in providing consistent, accessible obesity care across all levels of health systems.

The recent demonstration platform in Ireland showcased a national model of care that integrates practical, scalable solutions within existing health infrastructure. By coordinating multidisciplinary teams, increasing staffing, and optimising treatment protocols, Ireland’s experience demonstrates that high-quality obesity care can be delivered system-wide – provided there is political will, good governance, and collaboration across sectors.

Equally, the platform underscored the high societal cost of untreated obesity and the critical need to tackle the broader environment that contributes to weight gain – often referred to as the obesogenic environment. This includes the widespread availability of unhealthy foods, sedentary lifestyles, and pervasive marketing of unhealthy products.

Urgent Actions to Support People Living with Obesity

The WHO and its partners are urging countries to act decisively on a series of priority interventions:

1. Strengthen Multidisciplinary Care Pathways

Obesity care must be embedded across the entire health system, starting with primary care. Countries are encouraged to establish and expand multidisciplinary teams – comprising physicians, dietitians, nurses, psychologists, and physiotherapists – that offer comprehensive, evidence-based care for people living with obesity. These teams must be integrated into referral networks that ensure continuity of care from early prevention through to specialist services.

Portugal offers a recent example of such progress: in 2023, the country introduced a legal framework to implement an Integrated Care Model for the Prevention and Treatment of Obesity, aligned with WHO’s service delivery framework. This legislation aims to ensure consistent, equitable care throughout the national health service.

2. Address Commercial Determinants and Conflicts of Interest

Governments must enact robust policies to reshape food environments in ways that prioritise public health. This includes:

• Regulating digital and traditional marketing of unhealthy food and beverages, especially to children;
• Introducing clear, front-of-pack nutrition labelling;
• Mandating reformulation of processed foods to reduce sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats;
• Using taxation and subsidies to discourage unhealthy options and incentivise healthier ones.

Given the increased screen time among children and adolescents, special attention is needed to tackle commercial determinants in digital environments. Nutritional education programmes must be aligned with advertising regulations to ensure coherence between health messages at school and broader media. Portugal’s restrictions on food marketing to children provide a model of how cross-sectoral alignment can reinforce health promotion efforts.

3. Expand Early Intervention and Life-Course Prevention

Prevention efforts must begin early and continue throughout the life course, with a strong emphasis on high-risk populations. Interventions include:

• Promoting healthy eating and physical activity in schools and childcare settings, such as the EU’s school fruit scheme and Slovenia’s Slofit programme;
• Supporting families with tailored lifestyle advice;
• Ensuring that community-based programmes offer culturally appropriate support for nutrition and physical activity;
• Integrating routine screening, psychological support, and counselling into primary care.

By acting early, countries can prevent the development of obesity and avoid severe health complications later in life.

4. Build Health Workforce Capacity and Tackle Stigma

To provide respectful, effective obesity care, health professionals must be trained to address the condition without bias or stigma. This includes education on sarcopenic obesity – the co-occurrence of low muscle mass with excess fat – and training in clinical nutrition, sleep, movement, and psychological support.

Since 2022, Ireland has delivered obesity education to more than 3,000 medical and physiotherapy students, helping to embed non-stigmatising, evidence-based care into clinical practice. This model should be replicated globally.

At the same time, public health campaigns are needed to challenge stigmatising narratives and raise awareness of obesity as a chronic condition that requires medical and social support. Transitioning from a weight-centric to a body composition-based approach may further reduce stigma. Creating safe, inclusive environments for individuals living with obesity will improve their willingness to seek care and ultimately lead to better health outcomes.

Global Leadership Required – The Time to Act Is Now

Governments, health authorities, and policy-makers must now act on this evidence and make obesity a cornerstone of public health strategy. Real change demands multi-sectoral coordination, as seen in Spain’s national obesity prevention plan, which involves ministries beyond health.

The human and economic costs of inaction are simply too high. By scaling up coordinated responses across the health system, societies can prevent unnecessary suffering, improve population well-being, and take meaningful steps toward achieving the SDGs.

As the UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs approaches, the world is watching. There is a clear mandate: to elevate obesity on the global agenda and implement decisive, system-wide actions. The time for commitment and leadership is now.

“Obesity is a progressive, chronic and complex disease affecting all ages and genders.”

“Health systems worldwide need to prioritise obesity prevention and management as a core component of universal health coverage and NCD control.”

“The demonstration platform for obesity in Ireland highlighted the importance of a continued focus on driving significant changes to the obesogenic environment.”

“Shifting the focus from ‘obesity’ to ‘excess body fat’ through body composition measurements can help combat stigmatization.”

CCH Insight:

CCH supports this call for resources and actions to tackle obesity, particularly with regard to building health workforce capacity. Currently there is inadequate training for healthcare professionals in obesity care, so the first step must be to expand the provision of obesity care training for existing practitioners, and revise healthcare curricula to ensure the future workforce is capable of meeting this call to action.