There is a widespread perception that obesity is not a disease due to misunderstanding around its causes and complications. This often leads to:
- inference that obesity is the primary responsibility of the patient
- perception that prevention is far more important than treatment
This in turn fuels obesity-related prejudice and stigma, including discouragement of patients seeking medical care for obesity and stigma against providers using proven medical and surgical therapies.
This vicious cycle needs to be broken through improved understanding and dissemination of the science of obesity. We now know that obesity is a disease because it results from abnormal physiology. Body fat is dynamic throughout life and the body is pre-programmed to make these changes – in obesity, the mechanism that regulates fat is defective. The body "defends" a fat mass that it sets for itself during any period in life through metabolic adaptation and, therefore, obesity creates overeating – not the other way around.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) unveiled the new health service delivery framework for prevention and management of obesity at ECO 2023.
- The new framework is a health system-focused component of the WHO Acceleration Plan to Stop Obesity and provides a roadmap for the prevention and management of obesity through accessible, affordable, and effective health services across all stages of life and throughout the healthcare pathway.
- At its core, the framework advocates for the integration and organization of obesity prevention and management services within the healthcare system and local communities, emphasizing their critical role in achieving universal health coverage. Based on the principles of primary health care, the framework recommends a chronic care approach, underscoring the importance of sustained, long-term support for individuals affected by obesity.
- The emphasis is further made on integrating obesity prevention and management into existing service delivery frameworks across all healthcare settings, including communities and homes. Such an approach aims to ensure that obesity-related services are easily accessible to those in need, irrespective of their socio-economic background or geographical location.
- In addition to providing guidance on service integration, the framework is also intended to help governments and policymakers in resource planning for the scaling up and long-term sustainability of obesity prevention and management services, including training for frontline health workers and primary care physicians.
