Today is European Obesity Day. While some may stifle a yawn and ask why we need yet another awareness day, other countries are marking the day with a splash.
It's quite telling that many of the 15 countries signed up for active participation in the first ever European Obesity Day are in Eastern Europe. The Bulgarians, Czechs, Estonians, Hungarians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles and even Romanians will be out in the streets banging on about how they need to halt their obesity problem in its tracks.
In the UK it is no longer really a question of raising awareness with a special day and no longer necessary to have to introduce the "O" word to an unaware public. We have obesity awareness with almost daily headlines, and continual debate, while the government's Change4Life initiative is being promoted widely to the point where we need to take care to avoid message fatigue.
What is needed in the UK (and the rest of Europe, too) is something of a challenge for the new government desperate to trim the fat within the NHS without harming the level of services. We desperately need some sensible strategic thinking to cope with the realities of obesity.
At a European parliament briefing in Strasbourg to launch European Obesity Day earlier this week, the EU health commissioner John Dalli emphasised the EU's perspective was to focus on prevention rather than cure. Yes, preventing obesity may be preferable to curing obesity – but it is a lot easier said than done. And as the commissioner himself noted, they are striving to prevent a reversal in the health gains of past decades by preventing a rise in cardiovascular disease, cancer, and particularly type 2 diabetes.
Co-founder of European Obesity Day, David Haslam, chair of the National Obesity Forum in the UK, highlighted at the Strasbourg briefing that much more importance must be given to treating obesity in order to prevent the far more expensive and life-threatening co-morbidities, as well as many other related disabling diseases that reduce the quality of life and lead to higher costs for health services.
Whether that message registers with the UK's new coalition leaders remains to be seen. At a time of desperate immediate financial cutbacks, it is easy to overlook the longer term goals and gains that may not be realised until much later – perhaps after another election has passed. But having the determination to deal with the management of our obesity crisis is what is needed right now, alongside important prevention measures such as seeking to put a lid on the marketing of junk food and sugary soft drinks, as agreed by health ministers at the World Health Assembly this week.
Meanwhile, GPs have been measuring up how many (or perhaps that should be how few) obese patients pass through their surgeries during a little over a year. The figure is around 4.4 million, although the UK has probably 12 million obese people – almost one in four adults. Few GP practices have been resourced, mobilised or motivated to address their patients' obesity in any meaningful way. It is an oversight rather than foresight that needs to be addressed with some urgency, despite the atmosphere of restraint.
Tackling the challenge of treating obesity, and potentially averting a far worse scenario with type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, will not be achieved by merely raising awareness of the Change4Life message. It needs fundamental change in providing the essential medical services needed to manage and control what is a potentially life-threatening disease.
