Working with the UN

As the only global organisation focused on obesity, World Obesity plays a key role representing obesity civil society and engaging with the United Nations (UN) in different ways.

World Obesity has official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO) and works with other UN agencies. We also engage with the UN Economic and Social Council and in High-Level Meetings on universal health coverage (UHC) and non-communicable disease (NCDs).

Supporting the WHO Recommendations for the prevention and management of obesity

In 2022, the 75^th World Health Assembly approved a series of recommendations for the prevention and management of obesity over the life course.

The recommendations include actions for governments, other societal actors and WHO, as well as targets to monitor progress.  They are based on the following principles:

• A whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach.
• A life-course approach, recognising that primary preventive efforts are likely to have optimal effects if started in early childhood with parental involvement.
• Integrated health services that provide a continuum of care, such as health promotion, disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management.
• Policymakers need to ensure the impact of policies on gender across the life course, in all socioeconomic groups and in vulnerable populations.
• The environmental, social and commercial determinants of overweight and obesity should also be taken into consideration.
• A human rights approach is important both to strengthen the rationale for action and to guide policy choices.

For World Obesity and our members, specific recommendations include:

• To encourage governments to increase the availability, accessibility and affordability of health foods; promote the uptake of healthy diets and physical activity; and support the implementation and assess progress of policies.
• Ensure and amplify the voices of, and raise awareness about, people living with or affected by obesity.
• Mobilise the public to increase demand for obesity-prevention policies; the building of citizen protest and engagement; and the development of a receptive political environment, with change agents embedded across organizations and sectors.

The Global Obesity Coalition

With WHO and UNICEF, World Obesity is a founding member of The Global Obesity Coalition, which is bringing together stakeholders as a ‘coalition of the active and of the willing’ to lead, coordinate and drive action on obesity globally. The Coalition engages commitments, builds support and aligns around the WHO Acceleration Plan to Stop Obesity. It is currently working with four of the ‘frontrunner’ countries – Brazil, Jordan, Philippines and South Africa – to drive priority changes and stakeholder engagement in those countries.

The Coalition regularly convenes high-level events and dialogues at the World Health Assembly and the UN General Assembly.

Food and Agriculture Organization

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a Specialized Agency of the United Nations system established to lead international efforts to defeat hunger. Collectively, we have agreed to share common objectives regarding sustainable food systems for healthy diets and the prevention of malnutrition in all its forms. Our Memorandum of Understanding with the FAO includes developing resources on actions to address obesity in food systems.   

ECOSOC status

World Obesity is in consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which strives to advance three pillars of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental) by fostering debate and innovative thinking. This position enables us to actively engage with ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies, as well as with the UN Secretariat. World Obesity advocates for policies on obesity at the highest level, including at United Nations Headquarters in New York, and the United Nations offices in Geneva.