World Obesity attends the European Congress on Obesity (ECO)
World Obesity was well represented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO), held from 4 to 7 May in Maastricht, Netherlands. The Congress was hosted by the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) in collaboration with the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO).
World Obesity welcomed more than 40 representatives from 15 member organisations to a coffee morning, convening for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic struck. World Obesity members had the opportunity to network and discuss plans with our leadership. Organisations from Europe, Latin America and North America were in attendance.
Irrespective of provenance, colleagues assembled at the World Obesity stand to make the call for a Global Action Plan on Obesity in the run-up to the 75th World Health Assembly in Geneva, as well as urging WHO member states to adopt the recommendations on obesity and push for the approval of the WHO Acceleration Plan on obesity.
As part of the main scientific programme at ECO, World Obesity President-Elect Louise Baur presented a well-attended plenary session on ‘A year of advances in obesity in children and adolescents’. Prof. Baur’s intervention reflected on the rising prevalence of childhood obesity, which is projected to rise 160% by 2030, and highlighted the danger of inaction, particularly the risk of respiratory diseases and eating disorders among children and adolescents with obesity. Prof. Baur concluded by asserting the requirement for adequate professional intervention and improved research and data in the field, as well as the ‘need to tackle upstream (environmental) influences on obesity risk, which are particularly important for children and young people’.
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Finally, World Obesity encouraged participants to register for the International Congress on Obesity, which will be held in Melbourne, Australia, on 18-22 October. ICO figures as the pre-eminent global gathering for experts in obesity and will be hosted in conjunction with the Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society (ANZOS) and the Asia-Oceania Association for the Study of Obesity (AOASO).