The WHO Technical Package to Stop Obesity: A "HOW TO" approach for the obesity pandemic response

No country is immune to the impacts of the obesity pandemic, which now amount to 1 billion people – including 160 million children and adolescents – worldwide. This combination of a disease with fast-rising prevalence that is also a risk factor for other NCDs means that obesity now represents one of the major public health challenges of our time. If nothing is done, the global costs of overweight and obesity are predicted to reach US$ 3 trillion per year by 2030. 

To help countries navigate the complexity of implementation, WHO is launching today the WHO technical package to stop obesity. The package is intended to support government officials, such as national policy makers and programme managers, and other implementers to deliver concrete action. It focuses on a selection of proven interventions to be selected by countries according to their own priorities and tailored to the local context and focuses on: 

• Adapting environments to enable a healthy lifestyle. 
• Creation of knowledge, motivation, and skills for healthy behaviors.
• Transformation of the health system to respond to the obesity pandemic.