With obesity tripling since the 1980s, it’s worth recognising the annual World Obesity Day – a coming together of healthcare, patient and political communities.
At Liva Healthcare, we’re proud to support the initiative and raise awareness of the new digital ways to help patients living with obesity. The platform and programmes we are making available to patients across Europe, NHS England, other healthcare providers and payers, can reverse obesity.
The primary objective of today’s event is to drive formal recognition of obesity as a chronic disease that requires active management for both treatment and prevention. Worldwide, 39% of adults are overweight and 13% are obese. This number has been on the rise for over 50 years. This trend looks likely to continue because many of us lead inactive lives, sit down for too long (at work, in our cars and at home), eat too much and exercise too little. This is a dangerous mix of lifestyle factors which can lead to shorter lives and harm life quality.
Obesity is causally linked to numerous health conditions: 44% of type 2 diabetes, 23% of ischaemic heart disease and between 7% and 41% of certain cancers are attributable to patients being overweight or obese. On top of these very real health risks, obesity can also have a negative impact on a person’s happiness and emotional well-being.
There is also an economic impact. According to the European Commission, up to 7% of national health budgets in the EU are spent on diseases each year that are linked to obesity. Added to this are the wider costs of sickness, social exclusion and premature death.
If we continue on our current path, in the next three decades 92 million lives will be lost in the OECD due to obesity related conditions, reducing life expectancy by three years.
The good news is that obesity is a treatable condition. In order to tackle this complex global public health problem, healthcare professionals, policy makers and stakeholders will need to apply innovative solutions across a range of audiences.
More action is needed to empower people to make long-lasting lifestyle changes. At Liva Healthcare we are on a mission to turn back the clock on obesity. Our evidence-based approach has helped thousands of people with weight loss, reducing their risk of chronic lifestyle conditions. After six months on a Liva programme, the majority of patients lose weight and reduce their HbA1c levels – often to the extent that they are no longer prediabetic or diabetic.
Through Liva’s solutions, patients have access to a personal health coach who provides professional guidance, support and empathy through an ongoing relationship, to build long-term behaviour changes. Participants can track their progress real-time and engage with a support group of peers to keep them motivated. Through a blended approach of policy changes and healthcare innovation, we can work together to build happier and healthier communities.
