4 March: World Obesity Day

• Obesity is a health problem that today affects more than 650 million people worldwide.
• All Central American countries urgently need to recognise obesity as a disease and act accordingly.

3 March 2020. Novo Nordisk Central America and Caribbean joins in marking World Obesity Day with a coalition of organisations spanning the globe.

From North America’s Obesity Canada, Obesity Action Coalition, The Obesity Society and Obesity Medicine Association to the European Association for the Study of Obesity, the Asia Oceania Society for the Study of Obesity, and organisations in Africa, South Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, they are coming together to tackle obesity and inspire global change in policy-making, perceptions and action.

This unified front aims to seek a global response to this critical challenge. Obesity today is a global crisis affecting more than 650 million people worldwide, but it is not understood comprehensively. The complexity of this chronic disease, the challenge of developing sustainable solutions and the stigma that comes with it represent a challenge that must be addressed by everyone: the public and private sectors, academia and society¹.

Obesity is usually associated with excess weight, unhealthy eating, limited physical activity and poor health care. But behind all this lies more complex and less well-known science about what it means to live with the limitations of this condition.^2,3

Obesity is a chronic disease that requires long-term medical treatment.⁴ Complex and multifactorial in nature, it is influenced by genetic, physiological, environmental and psychological factors and is associated with many serious health consequences^2,3.

An estimated 67% of people in Central America and the Caribbean live with overweight and obesity⁵, so there is an urgent need for all countries in the region to recognise it as a disease that must be treated by a health professional, so that action can then be taken with the necessary policies.

 

 

About Novo Nordisk

Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company with 95 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care. This heritage has given us experience and capabilities that also enable us to help people defeat obesity, haemophilia, growth disorders and other serious chronic diseases.

Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk employs approximately 43,200 people in 80 countries and markets its products in more than 170 countries. For more information, visit www.novonordisk.com Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube.