Why Food Systems, Not Health Systems, Hold the Key to Tackling Obesity

Obesity is a worldwide problem, affecting one in three adults globally and contributing to four out of the five leading causes of death. While health systems have tried hard to prevent and treat obesity, they often struggle because they don't have control over the food environment, which is crucial for maintaining a healthy diet. The real power lies with agriculture, industry, infrastructure, trade, investment, and finance departments. So, it's essential to involve these sectors to create effective accountability mechanisms.

Let's look at the Pacific Islands, where they've shown incredible dedication to obesity prevention by reforming their food systems. They've adopted accountability systems that hold leaders responsible for making changes. This is a great example of how food systems can drive poor diets and obesity. We need similar accountability mechanisms worldwide to encourage all sectors to work together in preventing obesity and other non-communicable diseases.

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