2023 in review: Events
The World Obesity Events Team were in full swing this year with events held around the world and across many different projects.
From advocacy events in New York and Geneva, to our final EU project conference in Brussels, to several engaging online workshops and webinars, we brought together many stakeholders to advance knowledge, take action and share meaningful engagement.
Launch of ‘Obesity: The Other Pandemic of the 21st Century'
At the start of the year, we launched our book Obesity: The Other Pandemic of the 21st Century. This work features contributions from leading academics and practitioners in the field of obesity management and prevention, and is aimed at all healthcare professionals, students, policy specialists, advocates and anyone affected by obesity.
2023 began with a virtual book launch webinar in January, co-hosted by the editors Dr Ada Cuevas and Prof. Donna Ryan.
You can find out how to purchase a copy of the book on our website (available in both English and Spanish).
Purchase book
World Obesity Day
The theme for World Obesity Day 2023 was ‘Changing Perspectives: Let’s Talk About Obesity’. The campaign used conversation and stories to help people correct misconceptions surrounding obesity, acknowledge its complexities, and take effective, collective action.
During our campaign, we held two webinars, engaging members and policymakers in our high-level online event Changing perspectives and advancing national action, and then with a SCOPE themed webinar Changing Perspectives on child obesity through medical education including presentations on childhood obesity through the life course and the importance of SCOPE training and medical education in empowering health professionals to treat obesity.
Our main World Obesity Day webinar saw introductions from Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, and the Minister of Health and Population, The Arab Republic of Egypt, Prof. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar plus the launch of the World Obesity Atlas 2023, and updates from some of our members on the work they are doing in their regions.
World Obesity Day 2023
Global Obesity Coalition
As part of the Global Obesity Coalition, World Obesity, UNICEF and WHO co-hosted a breakfast event in Geneva as a side event to the World Health Assembly in May. This event saw around 50 people come together to hear from each of the organisations on the important steps needed to accelerate action, as well as words from World Obesity member, GASOL Foundation, and World Obesity Champion Supporter, BNP Paribas.
You can read more about the exciting events that took place during the rest of the week here including the Walk the Talk and delivering statements at the high-level UHC meeting.
GOC and WHA
EU Project Events
This year also saw several events as part of the EU funded CO-CREATE project, including a two-part webinar series with speakers from the World Cancer Research Fund International who created the NOURISHING and MOVING policy indexes, that assesses how well national governments in Europe are doing to create environments that enable and support people to eat a healthy diet and be physically active.
We also organised a webinar to launch the youth advocacy toolkit, developed by Press – Save the Children Youth Norway and designed by the World Obesity. This toolkit was developed by youth for youth and is a tool for young people to learn about policy ideas and development. The project ended with a final conference, co-hosted with WHO Europe and held in Brussels in October, which saw around 120 attendees in person and 60 online come together to celebrate the achievements of the project and share the continuation of the learnings and materials created. You can read a full report of the event here.
Global Obesity Forum
Our third Global Obesity Forum was held this September. From Puzzles to Progress: Transforming the Obesity Story, saw stakeholders gather in New York just prior to the United Nations General Assembly to address the coordinated action needed to prevent and manage obesity. The keynote talk came from Dr Chris van Tulleken, a nutritionist and author of best-selling book Ultra Processed People, followed by stories from our lived experience board members Stephen Ogweno and Amber Huett-Garcia.
Other speakers included Dr Francesco Branca, Fabio Gomes, Rachel Nugent and a panel led by Karen Sealey, plus Dr Bary Popkin, Meera Shekar, and Rob Yates, all discussing potential synergies between obesity and other areas.
More about GOF 2023
Looking ahead to 2024
As well as organising our own events, we had a presence at several other external meetings in the field of obesity such as Obesity Week, IFSO and ECO, all of which we hope to see our members and others at again in 2024.
Next June we look forward to holding the next edition of the International Congress on Obesity, in São Paulo. Hosted with our member ABESO, we are excited to welcome you to the meeting where you can expect exciting new research, expert presentations and discussions and speakers from Brazil, Latin America and around the world. You can register here, with the option to submit an abstract until February 2024.
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