The Turkish Association of Obesity Studies has been pleased to host the Let’s Talk Together campaign, a series of talks and presentations from eight Turkish COMs Centres. These resources have reached well over 1.5 million people during the COVID-19 pandemic to date. Read the blog post by EASO’s Dr Volkan Yumuk and watch the promo video
Turkish Association of Obesity Studies (TOAD) enables the first digital platform for obesity talks between patients and physicians
‘During Covid-19 pandemic, it became more critical to create a platform where obesity is discussed from a scientific perspective with multidisciplinary approach rather than a cosmetic problem. We can only change the narrative around obesity together, by developing innovative partnerships with academia, government and with the patient community.’
Prof. Volkan Yumuk – President of Turkish Association of Obesity Studies
In May of 2018, Turkish Association of Obesity Studies (TOAD) launched the public awareness Project LET’S ACT TOGETHER with the unconditional support of Novo Nordisk Turkey and conducted a wide range of activations and field activities to establish obesity as a disease in the public eye and called to action people to know their BMI’s and take action accordingly.
A few months ago, as the global Covid-19 pandemic disrupted and changed our daily lives, the project was converted into DIGITAL-first format and all the patient-physician interactions were now planned for digital channels, intsead of field activities.
Turkish Association of Obesity Studies (TOAD) Obesity Talks – LET’S ACT Webinars launched on April 2020 with the support of EASO accredited obesity centers all over Turkey in order to create a platform which obesity is discussed from a scientific perspective between HCPs and patients.
Through the 8 webinars organized since April 2020, 25 experts from different COM’s discussed obesity in a multi-diciplinary approach under different topics. The experts’ diverse backgrounds varies from Endochrinology and Metabolism to Physiotherapy, Psychiatry to Diet, Psychology to Pysical Activity and Sports.
In the Covid-19 lockdown period alone, around 1.5 million people accessed the live broadcasts via digital channels, where obesity was scientifically addressed and updated and relevant information was provided by experts.
APPENDIX:
Purpose of the campaign
- Discuss obesity as an illness rather than a cosmetic problem, by having experts give correct information.
- Create awareness about EASO-accredited obesity centers in Turkey.
- Exchange best practices and share experiences between EASO COMs in Turkey.
- Create digital content for social media accounts (short videos/visuals using short quotations from what the experts say in webinars)
Key Outcomes
- 8 out of 13 EASO COMs (obesity centers accredited by EASO) in Turkey were introduced and promoted
- Increase in the number of followers(+300) on social media
- 8109 followers on Instagram and Facebook platforms
- 5M people reached with social media ads through all digital channels
- Live Q&A sessions between people with obesity and physicians during the webinars
Download the PDF