Knowledge | Solutions | Action 
May Newsletter
Hello from World Obesity! This month's newsletter features:
  • World Obesity publishes position statement recognising obesity as a disease
  • World Obesity Day 2016 wins "Effective Voice" award at the International Association Awards
  • Convention Centre Dublin is awarded the Silver Healthy Venue award
  • All the latest news on obesity events and research

Keep updated and tell us your news by following us on Twitter: @WorldObesity.
World Obesity Recognises Obesity as a Disease
Major position statement published in Obesity Reviews

This month the World Obesity Federation publishes its position statement recognising obesity as a disease. Taking the form of a review article by a group of expert advisers, published in Obesity Reviews , the position adopted by World Obesity is now fully in accordance with the position taken by the American Medical Association in 2013 and by many of the World Obesity Federation’s member associations.

In a Comment published alongside the World Obesity statement, the senior policy officers in World Obesity argue that defining obesity as a disease does not lessen but rather increases society’s responsibility to prevent excess weight gain through a range of population-wide interventions to promote optimum health. Such population-wide measures are not only important to prevent obesity, they say, but are also integral to the treatment process by reducing the risk of weight regain for people who have successfully reduced their weight.

Both articles can be viewed for free using the links above. Click here for more information.
World Obesity Day 2016 Wins Association Award!
We are delighted to have won the 'Effective Voice Award' for World Obesity Day 2016 at the International Association Awards, which took place in Vienna on 3rd May. Click here to view the full list of winners.

Our Head of Communications, Ellie Needs, was there to collect the award. She commented: 

“This award is fantastic news for World Obesity Day and the World Obesity Federation. The whole team are thrilled to have been given international recognition of the effectiveness of our campaign. We have worked incredibly hard to create a new ‘cause day’ and it’s great to have that acknowledged by the associations community.

"We are really grateful to the Association of Association Executives for providing a platform to share our success story with a global audience. We know that the impact of World Obesity Day is going to grow year on year and we are excited to see support continue to spread globally."

World Obesity Day takes place again this year on 11th October. Keep checking our website for updates!
WOF Calls on New WHO Leader to Avoid Conflicted Interests

In conjunction with colleagues from the Conflicts of Interest Coalition, we have signed an open letter to the candidates for the position of WHO Director General asking how they intend to address the issue of accountability in health policy in a way which is free from conflicts of interest. The letter, signed by World Obesity, the UK Health Forum, the Institute for Alcohol Studies, the International Baby Food Action Network, and the Canadian Centre for Health Science and Law, has been published in the Lancet and has been supported by over 50 other organisations. 

View the letter here.
Research & Information
We have many exciting changes in our Data section this month. Firstly, our new name. The Resources section has been renamed ‘Data’ and we have refined the information available to our audience in this section to reflect their needs.  If you have a bookmark to this section, please replace the bookmark with:  https://www.worldobesity.org/data
New interactive maps

We have upgraded our maps and you can now view our Interactive Obesity Atlas section which contains all the original % Overweight and Obesity prevalence maps but also includes Drivers, Impact & Actions maps. You will find these maps here. New users may find it helpful to read the user instructions first here. This is a major upgrade to the site and we welcome any feedback or any ideas for the future. Please email us at obesity@worldobesity.org.

In terms of Presentation graphics available, we have new graphics highlighting the changes in overweight in boys and girls between 2001 & 2013/14 based on IOTF International Cut off Points (based on Self report HBSC Survey). These can be viewed here. 

Data updates

We recently applied a number of updates in children in Romania, Greece, Denmark, Poland, Belarus and Ireland, mainly relating to overweight/obesity prevalence by education or socioeconomic status.   In adults we applied updates to Guatemala, Malawi, Nepal, Serbia and Ukraine.

Policy/Intervention/Guideline updates

We have updated our ACTIONS map in England, Canada & St Vincent and the Grenadines with guidelines and legislation recommendations.
World Health Assembly, 22nd – 31st May 2017
The 70th World Health Assembly will take place on 22nd-31st May 2017. World Obesity is following some of the key agenda items relating to obesity and will be submitting a number of joint statements, including one relating to the implementation of the recommendations of the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (ECHO, and the updated version of the policy recommendations in the Global Strategy for Non-communicable Diseases (see Appendix III).

All documentation will become available here over the coming weeks. Copies of our statements will be posted on our website.
Convention Centre Dublin Becomes a Silver Healthy Venue
We are pleased to announce that the Convention Centre Dublin (CCD) has met the requirements to become a Silver Healthy Venue. The Healthy Venues Award is available to venues showing that they have taken steps to provide nutritious menus, promote activities that reduce sedentary behaviour, support conference organisers in creating healthy environments and implement workplace place health policies for their staff.

If you are want to hold a healthy meeting or you want to have your venue assessed, get in touch with us by emailing enquiries@worldobesity.org.
 WHO European Regional Office: Call For Papers
The European regional office of the World Health Organisation is calling for papers for a special issue of its in-house peer-reviewed journal Public Health Panorama to feature papers on obesity and unhealthy diets.

Details can be found  here. The deadline for submission is 31st May 2017.   
Upcoming World Obesity Events
SCOPE School Athens 2017

SCOPE School is returning to Athens on 3rd June! This one day event aims to serve as a comprehensive "primer" in all aspects of the obesity epidemic, from its rising prevalence to current and future treatment options. 

Speakers include: Dr Stavros Liatis, Dr Alexander Miras, Dr Carel le Roux, Prof Vaia Lambadiari, Dr Mary Yannakoulia, Prof Anthony Leeds, Dr Alexander Kokkinos and Mr Dimitri Pournaras. Full details on the programme, registration, exhibition and sponsorship can be found here.


Attendees of this event will earn 4 SCOPE points that count towards SCOPE Certification! 
SCOPE School London 2017

What are the causes of obesity and what can we do about it?

The scientific programme will explore the putative factors that may cause obesity and evaluate how a better understanding of the aetiology may improve treatment approaches. Speakers include Samantha Scholtz and Francis Finucane. Full details on programme, speakers, sponsorship, exhibition and registration can be found here.

Hot Topic Conference: 9th-10th November 2017

The event will feature abstract and poster prizes amongst a series of interesting talks including ‘Impact of maternal obesity of the embryo and ‘Clinical care pathways for obese mothers’.

Call for abstracts NOW open!

The Scientific Committee invite submissions of abstracts for poster and oral presentations relating to the themes around which the conference will be developed.
Submissions closing deadline: 26th July 2017
Details on programme, speakers, sponsorship, exhibition, registration and abstract submission can be found here.
Other Events
2nd Joint Global Symposium on Obesity
The 2nd Joint Global Symposium on Obesity will take place at the European Congress of Endocrinology - ECE 2017, in Lisbon on 21st May 2017.

This is the second in a regular series of collaborative sessions co-sponsored by the International Society of Endocrinology, European Society of Endocrinology and Endocrine Society focusing on major global topics related to the field of endocrinology.  

International experts Hollie Raynor (University of Tennessee), Sadaf Farooqi, (University of Cambridge) and Tim Lobstein (Director of Policy at World Obesity) discuss the genetic, behavioural and environmental factors involved in:  "The Many Dimensions of the Childhood Globesity Problem".

The session, which is endorsed by the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE), the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) and World Obesity will immediately follow European Obesity Day which this year is aimed at  Tackling Obesity Together! 
International Congress on Childhood Obesity (CIOI 2017)
We are pleased to announce that the World Obesity Federation is institutionally supporting the International Conference on Childhood Obesity (CIOI 2017).

The conference will take place in the iconic venue of Champalimaud Foundation in the beautiful city of Lisbon on 5th-8th July 2017.

Our Director of Policy, Dr Tim Lobstein, will be representing the World Obesity Federation in the Opening Ceremony, along with WHO/Europe the Ministry of Health representatives and the President of Portugal, Dr. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.  As keynote speakers, Dr Lobstein will lead a debate on Childhood Epidemiology and former President Prof. Philip James will lead a special session with children from around the World which will be streamed on Facebook CIOI2017.

Set to deliver an array of scientific and informative presentations, keynote debates and interactive workshops, with a line-up of internationally renowned speakers, the Conference will offer an extraordinary scientific and social programme. CIOI 2017 is one Conference  not to be missed.
For full programme details please click here.

With CIOI 2017 just around the corner, don't miss the opportunity to benefit from the early bird registration discount and the last chance for submitting an abstract before 20th May 2017. Register here.
CMHC Regional Conference Series
The Cardiometabolic Health Congress (CMHC) Regional Conference Series,  Focus on Frontline Education, is a primary-care focused series that provides the most current and recently emerging therapies and treatment guidelines aimed at reducing global cardiometabolic risk and improving clinical outcomes. Following a successful event in San Diego on 6th May, a further conference will take place in Chicago, IL on 12th August. Click here to register.

Organisers of CMHC have offered a discount to World Obesity newsletter readers. To receive $50 OFF any CMHC Regional Conference, use promo code PARTNERREGIONAL2017.

ObesityWeek
This year's ObesityWeek takes place in Washington DC on 29th October-2nd November.

ObesityWeek  is a unique, international event focused on the basic science, clinical application, surgical intervention and prevention of obesity. By combining both American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) and  The Obesity Society (TOS) annual meetings, ObesityWeek brings together world-renowned experts in obesity to share innovation and breakthroughs in science unmatched around the globe. Attendees will enjoy the diverse educational opportunities, networking events, and scientific synergies created through the collaboration of these leading obesity organizations.

For more information, visit the ObesityWeek website.
World Obesity Journals
Obesity Reviews (Impact Factor 7.51)
Clinical Obesity (Indexed in MEDLINE)

The new edition of Clinical Obesity is available to view! Read the Editor's Choice free for two months:
Check the Clinical Obesity  Early View page for the latest research!

Pediatric Obesity (Impact Factor 3.689) 

June's edition of Pediatric Obesity is now  available to read! Read the Editor's Choice free for one month:

Visit the  Early View page for the latest studies on Pediatric Obesity. 

Obesity Science & Practice

The March edition of Obesity Science & Practice is available to read  for free via Open Access. Take a look at the following articles: