On World Obesity Day, Roots and Action

Planting fruit trees is not part of the typical workday for staff of the Chilean Center for Advanced Metabolic Medicine and Nutrition (CAMMYN) in Santiago, but on March 4 they will be doing just that, at a new multidisciplinary center for obesity in children, based in a low-income area of Santiago with a high prevalence of obesity. This is a symbolic step to address obesity in a country where rates are now among the highest in the world, and to give children access to healthier foods and ways of eating.

Being surrounded by trees that provide a steady supply of fruit is a great start, but far more research, resources and political will are needed to prevent and manage this complex, chronic disease that now affects at least 800 million adults and children worldwide. Because coordinating efforts is essential to addressing obesity, a group of organisations has decided to join forces and schedule awareness and advocacy activities on the same day, starting on March 4, 2020. Building on a platform of changing the obesity narrative, this shared World Obesity Day also focuses on strengthening political will for meeting targets on obesity set by the WHO and the UN, including convening a meeting of missions to the WHO in Geneva and EU colleagues in Brussels, both on March 4, along with public-facing and professional events across the globe.

There is another reason planting trees is important on World Obesity Day. Our understanding of obesity has grown more nuanced as it becomes clear that food, genetics, biology, access, sleep, even marketing and stigma, can all drive obesity. By virtue of their very design, trees demonstrate how multiple roots come together into a single trunk, just as the roots of obesity are widespread and diverse yet converge into one body.  The relative absence of an integrated approach to obesity has translated into fragmented health systems, lack of policy coherence across sectors, and poor translation of evidence into widely available prevention and care.

Obesity does not occur in silos and it will not be solved in them either. On World Obesity Day, come together to highlight the multiple roots of obesity and recommit to shared action to address this global challenge.

To take action on obesity (and to submit an O selfie), please visit www.worldobesityday.org.