In conjunction with World Obesity Day Europe, the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) and The European Coalition for People Living with Obesity (ECPO) organised the annual European Obesity Policy Conference which was held online on Thursday, 4 March 2021.
The need to implement an outcomes-based approach to health systems design, availability and uptake has never been so clear over the course of the past year. Health stakeholders at EU, national and regional levels are all facing the realities of how to meet the ongoing challenges of the “New Reality” whilst ensuring the longer-term resilience and sustainability of health systems.
The European Commission’s inaugural Foresight Report and related process has provided a major roadmap for key challenges and opportunities. However, the question of “how can this be meaningfully achieved” remains.
Obesity is one of only two non-communicable diseases (NCDs) to have been highlighted for prioritisation within the European Commission’s Foresight Report. This clearly shows the need to act on obesity as a chronic relapsing disease beyond primary prevention.
World Obesity Day Europe on 4 March 2021 provided an excellent opportunity to discuss implementation pathways and to exchange views on:
- What are the challenges of establishing resilient health systems?
- What could an outcomes-based healthcare approach to obesity as an NCD look like?
- Lessons learned from the other Foresight priority NCD: Cancer?
- What are the digital infrastructures which can be harnessed and interconnected for implementation?
- Where do we go from here? The case for obesity as the Next Health Mission
Delegates contributed to the policy discussion with European thought leaders.
Vicki Mooney is a Patient Advocate, Public Speaker, Media Personality, Director of the Irish Coalition for People living with Obesity (ICPO) & the Executive Director of the European Coalition for People living with Obesity, (ECPO).
MEP Pernille Weiss is a politician from the Conservative People’s Party of Denmark. Hereby she is a member of the European People’s Party, EPP.
Anna Lönnroth Sjödén is since 1 June 2019 head of the Healthy Lives unit at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD). The unit aims to ensure that R&I policies and programmes accelerate a better understanding of health at all ages and the achievement of effective and widely implemented strategies for preventing illness. This encompasses the study of all health determinants, including personal biological pre-dispositions and external factors e.g. environmental, climatic, chemical, food, occupational or lifestyle-related. It also encompasses the development of tangible solutions and interventions in terms of health promotion, disease prevention, screening programmes and technologies for assessing exposures.
Ms Jacqueline Bowman-Busato is EU Policy Lead at EASO (European Association for the Study of Obesity) in Brussels. She has worked in the Brussels environment since 1996, towards transforming health ecosystems from policy to reality. A pioneer of multi-stakeholder coalition building for societal impact, Jacqueline has previously worked for an MEP, run the expert secretariat of a European Parliamentarian Interest Group, Headed up the Brussels office of a global NGO, transformed a patient-led Platform into an equally-weighted multi-stakeholder Think Tank for Patients, Science and Industry.
Valentina Polylas joined the European Regional and Local Health Authorities (EUREGHA) network in January 2018 as Director.
Teena Gates is a best selling author, award-winning Journalist, TV & Radio Presenter. She also has a taste for adventure and has climbed some of the world’s highest mountains, as well as kayaking on the Nile, cycling through Uganda and engaging in long-distance open-sea swimming around Ireland.
Matti Aapro is a medical oncologist, Director at the Cancer Center Genolier, Switzerland and President of the European Cancer Organisation, President of Sharing Progress in Cancer Care (SPCC), member of the Board the European School of Oncology (ESO) and the International Society for Geriatric Oncology (SIOG).
Sara Cerdas is a 31-years-old Portuguese medical doctor and since July of 2019 a Member of European Parliament.
Jason is Head of the School of Psychology, University of Leeds from April 2020 (he was Head of the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Liverpool (2010-2019) and is Treasurer and President Elect of the European Association of Obesity (EASO), and former Chair of the UK Association for the Study of Obesity (ASO).
Jaana Sinipuro is a Project Director at Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund. Sitra is “a think, do and connect tank” that collaborates with partners from different sectors to trial and implement bold new ideas that shape the future.
Dr. Jennifer L. Baker is a Research Leader of the group on lifecourse epidemiology at the Center for Clinical Research and Prevention, Copenhagen University Hospital system, in Denmark. Her research programme investigates how body size and growth during childhood in combination with other exposures across the lifecourse relate to disease. Dr. Baker’s work focuses on short and long-term effects of overweight and obesity in children. She and her group have shown that a higher body mass index in childhood increases the risk during adult life of numerous non-communicable diseases including nine types of cancer, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.
Euan Woodward has worked with EASO since 2005 and has been its Executive Director since 2007. He is responsible for the development and implementation of EASO’s strategic action plans and coordinates the activities of the Association’s General Council, Executive Committee, Task Forces and Working Groups.
Pierre Delsaux is Deputy Director General at the European Commission, Directorate General for Health (DG SANTE).
Antonella Cardone is the Director of the European Cancer Patient Coalition, which is the largest cancer patient umbrella organization in Europe with over 450 members from 49 countries. She has over twenty years of international activity in health, social and employment sectors.
Since 2002 Carlos has been President of Adexo, the Portuguese obesity patients organisation, which has changed the whole system of recognition and treatment of obesity in Portugal.