Obesity intervention efforts in China and the 2022 World Obesity Day

Abstract

Obesity has become a serious public health problem globally. China has the world's largest number of people with obesity or overweight. More than 50% of adults and about 20% of children and adolescents in China are overweight or obese. Over the past 20 years, China has made many efforts in obesity intervention, while obesity rates continued rising. In recent years, China has taken more actions for obesity prevention. The World Obesity Day (WOD) was established in 2015 by the World Obesity Federation, and is a unified day of action calling for a cohesive, cross-sector response to fight obesity. WOD has drawn increasing attention in recent years. China formally joined the WOD activities this year, promoted by The Obesity Prevention and Control Section of Chinese Nutrition Society, which cooperated closely with other organizations in carrying out a series of activities during the 2022 WOD. These efforts aimed to encourage the whole society to pay attention to the obesity problem and take more practical actions. The activities include: (1) The 2022 “World Obesity Day” China Summit; (2) a specifically developed WOD obesity prevention education video; and (3) the launch of The Expert Consensus on Obesity Prevention and Treatment in China. These can serve as examples for other organizations and countries to consider in future intervention efforts. To fight the global obesity epidemic, all counties and people need to act. Countries can learn from each other's successful practices.