"Four Billion Reasons to Prioritise Overweight and Obesity - or Leave Half the World Behind"

In a powerful Member Blog published on 1 August 2025, Johanna Ralston (World Obesity Federation) and Yvette Raphael (Advocates for the Prevention of HIV in Africa) raise the alarm: nearly four billion people - almost half of humanity - are projected to be affected by overweight or obesity by 2035, predominantly in low‑ and middle‑income countries.

They highlight a glaring disconnect: while countries across Africa and beyond are demanding help to prevent and treat obesity, the UN High‑Level Meeting on NCDs (HLM4) offers minimal focus on obesity - excluding it from primary care and omitting evidence‑based food and health policies. Despite obesity being a leading driver of type 2 diabetes (43 %), hypertension (up to 78 %), and more than 13 types of cancer, it remains sidelined in many global agendas.

On the upside, the blog points to hope: the WHO Acceleration Plan to STOP Obesity (2022), the inclusion of new weight‑loss medications (GLP‑1s) in WHO guidelines and the Essential Medicines List, and growing advocacy networks and campaigns (like #4BillionReasons). These advances underscore the need for political will, financing, multisectoral policy action, and the central involvement of people with lived experience to make meaningful progress.

As the UN’s NCD Political Declaration takes shape ahead of September’s HLM4, Ralston and Raphael argue strongly: obesity must be at the heart of global NCD strategy - not an afterthought.

Read the full blog here:

Four billion reasons to prioritise overweight and obesity – or leave half the world behind