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chapter 1.
Global trends in
overweight and obesity
Chizuru Nishida, Elaine Borghi, Francesco Branca, and Mercedes de Onis
Obesity is now well recognized tory problems, sleep disorders, and and management of obesity. Since
as a disease in its own right, one liver disease. They may also suffer then, WHO has organized several
that is largely preventable through from psychological effects, such as technical meetings to address vari-
changes in lifestyle, especially diet. low self-esteem, depression, and so- ous issues related to the prevention
Obesity is also a major risk factor cial isolation [2]. and control of obesity.
associated with increased morbidity In 1997, the World Health Or- In 2012, 15 years after the first
and mortality from many noncommu- ganization (WHO), recognizing the Expert Consultation on Obesity was
nicable diseases (NCDs). rapidly increasing prevalence of held, the Sixty-fifth World Health As-
Obesity in adulthood increases obesity and its overwhelming social, sembly endorsed the Comprehen-
the likelihood of type 2 diabetes mel- economic, and public health conse- sive Implementation Plan on Mater-
litus, hypertension, coronary heart quences, held, for the first time, an nal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition
disease, stroke, certain cancers, Expert Consultation on Obesity [3]. [4] together with the six global nutri-
obstructive sleep apnoea, and os- The Expert Consultation reviewed tion targets to be attained by 2025
teoarthritis. It also negatively affects the global prevalence of obesity [5]. One of the six global nutrition
reproductive performance [1]. and trends in obesity in children and targets is to “ensure that there is no
Overweight and obesity in child- adults, factors contributing to the increase in childhood overweight”.
hood are associated with a higher problem of obesity, and associat- To accelerate the efforts of WHO
probability of obesity in adulthood ed consequences of obesity. It also and to develop a comprehensive
and may have devastating conse- examined the health and economic response to childhood obesity, the
quences for this very vulnerable age consequences of obesity and their WHO Director-General established
group. Children who are overweight impact on development, and devel- a high-level Commission on Ending
or obese are at a higher risk of de- oped recommendations to assist Childhood Obesity (ECHO) in May
veloping serious health problems, countries in developing comprehen- 2014.
including type 2 diabetes, high blood sive public health policies and strat- In 2013, the Sixty-sixth World
pressure, asthma and other respira- egies for improving the prevention Health Assembly endorsed the Global
2
CHAPTER 1
Fig. 1.1. Trend in the prevalence of overweight in children younger than 5 consequence; for example, for an
years (and 95% confidence intervals), according to the latest child malnutri- individual of height 1.75 m, the BMI
tion estimates from UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank Group (2015) [8]. range of 18.5–25 kg/m2 covers a
weight range of 20 kg. Weight gain
in adult life may be associated with
increased morbidity and mortality
independently of the original de-
gree of overweight.
•The cut-off points for degrees of
overweight should not be interpret-
ed in isolation but should always be
Overweight (%)
4
CHAPTER 1
Fig. 1.3. Mean body mass index (kg/m2), for people aged 18 years and older, in 2014 (age-standardized estimate):
(a) women, (b) men. Source: WHO.
6
CHAPTER 1
physical activity in schools); and the calls for fiscal policies and regula- ber States supported the Action Plan
promotion of healthy lifestyles (fa- tion of food marketing and labelling, to Reduce the Double Burden of
cilitating and motivating people to improvement of school nutrition and Malnutrition in the Western Pacific
adopt better diets and physical activ- physical activity environments, and (2015–2020) [17]. The plan address-
ity in the workplace; developing/im- promotion of breastfeeding and es the rising double burden of mal-
proving national food-based dietary healthy eating. Its goal is to halt nutrition reflected in the unfinished
guidelines and guidelines for physi- the rise of the epidemic so that there agenda of reducing undernutrition
cal activity; and individually adapted is no increase in current country and the rising burden of diet-relat-
health behaviour change). prevalence rates of obesity. To sup- ed NCDs. It recommends actions
Similar regional initiatives are port countries in implementing the to achieve five objectives: elevating
also being implemented in several plan of action, PAHO is providing nutrition in the national development
WHO regional offices to accelerate evidence-based information to in- agenda; protecting, promoting, and
action in counteracting the increas- form the development of policies and supporting optimal breastfeeding
ing problem of obesity. For example, regulations, regional nutrition guide- and complementary feeding prac-
countries of the Americas took a gi- lines for preschool and school feed- tices; strengthening and enforcing
ant step forward in the fight against ing programmes, and guidelines for legal frameworks that protect, pro-
the rising epidemic of obesity when foods and beverages sold in schools. mote, and support healthy diets; im-
they unanimously signed on to the In addition, PAHO is supporting the proving the accessibility, quality, and
new 5-year Plan of Action for the adoption of indicators of obesity, will implementation of nutrition services
Prevention of Obesity in Children develop and maintain a database of across public health programmes
and Adolescents [16], during the nationally representative figures on and settings; and using financing
Fifty-third Directing Council of the overweight and obesity prevalence, mechanisms to reinforce healthy di-
Pan American Health Organization and will monitor activities related to ets. The WHO Regional Committee
(PAHO), which was also the Six- the implementation of policies, laws, for the Western Pacific is supporting
ty-sixth Session of the WHO Re- and programmes in the Americas. countries in adopting the 2025 global
gional Committee for the Americas, In October 2014, at the Sixty-fifth nutrition targets and translating the
held in September–October 2014. Session of the WHO Regional Com- targets into actions suitable for the
Among other measures, the plan mittee for the Western Pacific, Mem- country context.
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