My brother Michael Bloomberg,
Excellencies, esteemed guests, dear colleagues and friends,
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, it’s a pleasure to be with you.
Although World Obesity Day is an annual event, the terrible impact of the COVID-19 pandemic over the last year makes our gathering today more important than ever.
COVID-19 has preyed on people with obesity, who are more likely to be hospitalized and have a higher likelihood of severe disease and death.
At the same time, the pandemic has made combatting the obesity epidemic even more difficult.
It has made it harder for many people to engage in physical activity, while economic hardship and distribution disruptions have reduced access to safe, nutritious food.
Isolation has also increased dramatically, often leading to psychological distress that worsens obesity.
Worldwide, obesity has nearly tripled since 1975. As of 2016, more than 650 million adults were obese, or about 13% of all adults globally. Prevalence of obesity for children more than doubled over the last two decades.
Comprehensive, coherent strategies are needed for the effective and sustainable prevention and management of obesity, a disorder caused by multiple factors, which affects people in countries both rich and poor.
The health impacts of obesity are wide-ranging, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, depression, impotence, organ disease, birth complications and sleep disorders.
Children with obesity are more likely to experience anxiety, depression and bullying, which can lead to a vicious cycle.
Obesity, and the illness and disability it causes, imposes a significant economic impact in terms of health costs, lost productivity and the associated drag on economic growth.
The World Health Assembly set targets for overweight and obesity reduction in children, adolescents, and adults. But we still have a long road ahead, and the pandemic has set us even further back.
We need to reverse the trend, in three ways.
First, we need to fight obesity with public health tools, by scaling up actions to prevent, control and manage it.
Preventing obesity starts with good maternal nutrition and managing weight gain in pregnancy.
Good childhood nutrition is critical. Healthcare providers must actively support breastfeeding, especially for families in stressful circumstances.
The responsibility goes beyond the family. Employers need to promote a family-friendly workplace where women can nurse their infants. And we must continue to confront the efforts of the industry to undermine breastfeeding by promoting breastmilk substitutes.
Breastfeeding must be accompanied by nutritious complementary food and limited sugar intake at these young ages.
Unfortunately, most products intended for children have a high sugar content, such as cereals, dairy products and many snacks.
And we also need to create an active society, active environments and active systems, following the recommendations in the WHO Global Action Plan on Physical Activity.
Second, we need to fight obesity with financial and regulatory tools, to make healthy diets more accessible and affordable.
This means using pricing tools, such as taxes and subsidies, and regulating the marketing of foods to children.
We must clearly inform people about the nutritional content of the food they are buying and consuming, in a way that even young children can understand.
This also means ensuring that only healthy foods are served or sold in public institutions, such as schools, hospitals, community centres and government offices.
Third, we need to fight obesity with clinical tools, by providing quality care for children and adults who live with obesity.
WHO is developing locally adaptable, science-informed recommendations for care of children and adolescents with obesity and for young children at risk delivered at the primary health care level.
Excellencies, colleagues and friends,
Like COVID-19, obesity is a global challenge that can only be met with a global response.
We must work together, across institutions and disciplines, to provide practical solutions to reform food systems, to address the underlying causes of obesity, and to help people achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
WHO is pleased to partner with the World Obesity Federation, UNICEF, the Bloomberg Foundation and other stakeholders to share perspectives today, as we join together to fight the obesity pandemic.
This is also a special year because the UN Secretary-General has convened the Food Systems Summit, which gives us a unique opportunity to take action to reverse the obesity crisis.
With public health tools, financial and regulatory tools and clinical tools, we can bring this devastating global disorder under control.
We owe it to our children, and the children of the world, to give them an environment where nutritious food and healthy diets are the norm, not the exception.
I thank you.