Skip to main content
  • Redstone
  • STOP Obesity Alliance
    • Home
    • About
    • Policy
    • Research
    • Resources
    • News
    • Membership
  • Community Resilience
Home
Menu

Main navigation First Level

  • Redstone
  • STOP Obesity Alliance
    • Home
    • About
    • Policy
    • Research
    • Resources
    • News
    • Membership
  • Community Resilience
Menu

Main navigation Second Level

  • Home
  • About
  • Policy
  • Research
  • Resources
  • News
  • Membership
    • Government Liaison Members
    • Steering Committee
    • Corporate Members

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. The Global Syndemic 2020

The Global Syndemic 2020

January 2020

Sub-Header
The Global Syndemic 2020

  • Feb 4, 2020
  • By: ameliacorl

One year ago, the Lancet Commission on Obesity published its seminal report, The Global Syndemic of Obesity, Undernutrition and Climate Change. Today, the report remains impactful and more relevant than ever. As we continue to see the effects of climate change and malnutrition in all its forms, we should be reminded that we can mitigate these issues with systemic changes if we act now.

The Commission began by reframing the problem of obesity, which we know has been rising worldwide. Evidence-based recommendations to reduce obesity have not been successfully implemented due to policy inertia. Like climate change, obesity is an insidious problem that many view as also not sufficiently urgent enough to demand action.

When we view obesity in the same framework as undernutrition and climate change, it becomes clear that these issues influence each other. Fortunately, this framework also allows us to consider double-duty or triple-duty actions that can benefit some or all of these related problems. Changes in agriculture, transportation, and food production have the potential to increase the health of both the population and the planet.

Policy shifts, like sustainable dietary guidelines, could impact human health, nutrition, and climate change (Figure 1). Unfortunately, in 2015 the Dietary Guidelines for Americans did not consider sustainability, despite the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and health researchers.

FIGURE 1

imagesharp.png

Both human health and the health of the planet are declining. The last ten years have been recognized as the hottest decade on record. Despite the climate change advocacy of this past year, U.S. policies have not changed to favor action. Climate activist Greta Thunberg was announced as Time’s Person of the Year, but the U.S. is still set to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement in November. The wildfires that have raged in Australia, facilitated by record-setting heat and drought, have affected agriculture and have also affected drinking water. Infrastructure is destroyed and lives are impacted or lost. Carbon emitted from the wildfires contributes to climate change, perpetuating the cycle.

As we enter 2020 we can begin to change our climate-related practices and work to implement these double- and triple-duty policy-level changes. We need to see obesity and climate change as urgent issues and demand action. The future depends on it.

  • Related
  • Recent
    April 2022 Letter from the Director
    Federal Health Plans Step Up Coverage of Obesity Treatment
    • 04/29/2022
    March 2022 Letter from the Director
    Pregnancy-Related Risk Factors for Childhood Obesity
    • 03/31/2022
    February 2022 Letter from the Director
    Obesity Care Week 2022
    • 02/28/2022
    April 2022 Letter from the Director
    Federal Health Plans Step Up Coverage of Obesity Treatment
    • 04/29/2022
    March 2022 Letter from the Director
    Pregnancy-Related Risk Factors for Childhood Obesity
    • 03/31/2022
    February 2022 Letter from the Director
    Obesity Care Week 2022
    • 02/28/2022

Categories

  • Letters from the Director (64)
  • Press Releases (44)
  • STOP Member Update (7)
  • Alliance News (1)
logo - STOP Strategies to Overcome and Prevent Obesity Alliance
logo - Milken Institute School of Public Health | The George Washington University | Summer M. Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness

STOP Obesity Alliance

Milken Institute School of Public Health 
The George Washington University 
950 New Hampshire Avenue, NW
3rd Floor
Washington, DC 20052

email icon  Email us
phone icon  (202) 994-4308

Stay connected!

Twitter icon@STOPObesity

newsletter iconSign up for the STOP E-newsletter

Copyright information.