World Obesity Day Europe, held each year to draw attention to Europe’s growing
obesity epidemic and the need for better prevention and treatment, will take
place on Monday, March 4.
The European edition of the global event – World Obesity Day Europe – is held
annually to draw attention to Europe’s growing obesity epidemic and the need
for better prevention and treatment.
Within the umbrella theme, Addressing Obesity Together, participants organise
events ranging from free health check-ups and healthy eating advice to holding
virtual open days at hospitals and treatment centres. Information and training
workshops are also held for patients and healthcare professionals.
The campaign, part of the global World Obesity Day, is an initiative of the
European Coalition for People Living with Obesity (ECPO). People from all walks
of life participate to create greater awareness and understanding of obesity.
The World Obesity Atlas 2024, published by the World Obesity Federation,
predicts that the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the WHO European
region will reach 71% by 2035.
Of the 41 million adult deaths worldwide each year due to non-communicable
diseases (NCDs), 5 million are driven by high BMI (≥ 25 kg/m2). Nearly 4 million
of these are from diabetes, stroke, coronary heart disease and cancer alone.
In particular, ECPO wants to draw attention to the impact that obesity has on
society and the economy and the huge benefits to be gained from prevention
and treatment. Reducing obesity prevalence and improving its management will
substantially benefit health services and improve the likelihood of meeting
global targets for tackling NCDs in adults. This will ensure better health for
future generations.
Numerous World Obesity Day Europe events will take place at national and local
levels and will be publicised extensively on social media @ObesityDayEU and
#WODEurope on X (Twitter).
Among them are online conferences, lectures and discussions in Czechia,
Germany, and Sweden, as well as in-person events in Luxembourg, Hungary, and
Portugal.
In Italy, chefs are working with healthcare and dietary specialists to hold cookery
workshops for people living with obesity.
Podcasts are being broadcast in Ireland, Slovakia and Belgium. In Portugal, an
educational children’s book on obesity is being launched for distribution to
schools, and scientific workshops on obesity and mental health are planned.
“Listening to those with the lived experience is extremely important as we
continue to address obesity,” says Dr Kremlin Wickramasinghe, Regional Adviser
for Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, Special Initiative on NCDs and
Innovation, WHO Regional Office for Europe. “Seeing so many organising World
Obesity Day initiatives is very encouraging.”
The ECPO image bank of photographs continues to be expanded and updated in
collaboration with more than 30 patient organisations across European
countries.
The image bank has been created to help change people’s attitudes to
overweight and obesity. It consists of more than 600 professionally taken
photographs to support editors in selecting less stigmatising images for use in
newspapers and magazines.
Further details on World Obesity Day and where to find more information on
obesity and obesity prevention and treatment are available on the World
Obesity Day Europe website: www.woday.eu.
The following hashtags are used on social media: #WODEurope,
#WorldObesityDay, and #AddressingObesityTogether.
Download the Press Release
________________________________________
For further information, please contact Mario Silva ([email protected]) or
Vicki Mooney at ECPO ([email protected]) Tel: +34 687391566 . For further
information on World Obesity Day Europe, please see https://woday.eu/; and on
ECPO https://eurobesity.org/