2023 Year-end letter from our President and CEO

News2023 Year-end letter from our President and CEO

Dear friends,

This was a year when, once again, the remarkable members of the global obesity community led the way in elevating obesity on the global agenda, ensuring the best possible evidence is developed and shared, and representing a disease and driver of other diseases that now affect everyone, everywhere.

2023 was the year we saw the greatest and most well-received World Obesity Day to date. 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. And whereas total media reach is usually 1 or 2 billion, in 2023 the first three weeks after World Obesity Day recorded over 55 billion in total media reach. Half a billion twitter impressions rounded out the reach, and the World Obesity Atlas data captured the attention of media, policymakers, and funders.

In other policy news, in May the WHO Executive Board and Member States renewed our official relation status and three-year joint plan, focusing on the WHO Acceleration plan. In September we hosted the Global Obesity Forum alongside the UN General Assembly in New York, and in October we released a position statement by members of the global obesity community addressing weight stigma and changing obesity narratives (published in our journal Obesity Reviews).

Our education and data work grew more than ever, with new modules and a record for SCOPE certifications at 746 (at the time of writing). Visits to our Global Obesity Observatory reached over 1.3 million, saw a staggering 228% increase in website users from 2020 – 2023, with visitors from 230 countries, islands and territories. We also launched our book Obesity: The Other Pandemic of the 21st Century, featuring contributions from leading academics and practitioners in the field of obesity management and prevention, available in both Spanish and English.

Our journals thrive under new editors, with Obesity Reviews continuing as the obesity journal with the highest impact factor and an editorial board with 18 new members.

Our membership continues to grow and we end 2023 with 99 member organisations in 120 countries and territories.

And finally, next June we look forward to welcoming you to Brazil and the International Congress on Obesity, in São Paulo.

All of this was facilitated by a small team of wonderful staff within World Obesity, as well as your efforts, and a global community that is seeing real impact.