All health agents involved in its management demand a National Plan for the Comprehensive Approach to Obesity

BY EU STUDIO

Updated Monday, June 6, 2022-10:56

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Health professionals, representatives of patient organizations and experts in health policy, together with OPEN Spain (a coalition of the Obesity Policy Engagement Network, OPEN), met a few days ago at the Congress of Deputies to present the Decalogue of rights of people with obesity.

The conference, called 'Obesity: a political, health and social priority', wanted to give visibility to this disease and make society aware of the importance of addressing this increasingly growing problem that affects 8 and a half million adults in Spain and one and a half million children (1).

With this initiative, Spain wishes, as has happened in countries such as the United Kingdom, Italy and Portugal, that the political authorities recognize these rights and promote actions to guarantee them, starting with a National Plan for the Comprehensive Approach to Obesity.

Susana Monereo,

a member of Open España and head of the Metabolic and Endocrine Obesity Unit at Hospital Ruber Internacional, points out that "for an effective and comprehensive treatment of obesity, it is also necessary to recognize the rights of people who suffer from it. A recognition that must be accompanied by the promotion of measures that guarantee them".

For the endocrinologist, the day that has been attended by the President of Congress, Meritxell Batet and the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, represents a before and after in the way obesity is viewed.

"We have managed to give visibility to this disease and talk about it, showing that it

".

Dr. Monereo comments how obesity is difficult to understand as a pathology, since the main causes behind it are related to poor lifestyle habits.

"This doesn't apply in the same way to alcoholism or lung cancer in smokers."

Susana Monereo points out that it is the most prevalent and visible disease of those that can be had, but it is the most invisible and non-existent for many.

"Healthy eating and exercise are an important part of obesity treatment, but many other aspects, including genetics, must be assessed in order to establish an individualized therapeutic strategy," she says.

Obesity is a chronic and multifactorial disease associated with more than 200 health problems (2).

In most cases it is considered to be a chosen lifestyle, which favors social stigma.

To put an end to this topic, it is important to reinforce the empowerment of these patients and that they have a better understanding of their problem at all levels.

At the meeting held in the Congress of Deputies, the importance of all social agents participating in dealing with this disease was underlined.

, member of Open España and executive director of the Hispalis Nacional Bariatric Association, Association of Bariatric and Obesity Patients (ABH), affirms that "we are facing a metabolic pandemic and we have not yet realized it. In this context, we consider essential that

both at the political, medical and pharmaceutical

OPEN Spain has the objective of being a support to minimize the serious consequences of the obesity pandemic that we are facing.

"We want to be the link between public health policy makers, patients, scientific societies and obesity experts to share diverse perspectives on this common challenge and thereby identify the best solutions to remove all barriers that prevent effective care for obesity", says Dr.

, member of OPEN Spain and head of the Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition at Hospital Virgen de la Victoria (Málaga).

Need for more resources

was also highlighted at the conference

, since it represents a direct additional cost of 2,000 million euros per year for the National Health System.

This figure represents 2% of the global health budget.

Another significant fact is that of the 400,000 people with morbid obesity (3.4) in Spain, only 10,000 undergo bariatric surgery per year, that is, less than 3% of these patients.

"Increasing resources is essential to care for these patients, financing effective drugs and increasing the number of bariatric surgeries," says Susana Monereo.

"With 5% weight loss, improvements are already perceived in metabolic diseases, diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia. If this weight loss is between 10 and 20%, a remission of diabetes, sleep apnea, cancer and the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. It must also be taken into account that when a patient loses weight, his health improves in all his spheres, mental, social, work, etc. He feels happier and that contributes to change your habits often," he says.

Tinahones advocates the need to carry out a National Plan for the Comprehensive Approach to Obesity that prevents the numbers of these patients from continuing to grow and causing an unprecedented burden both on the National Health System and on society in general.

"It is time to face this silent pandemic and for institutions to take charge. All of this within the framework of a national plan that allows identifying the best solutions to eliminate all the current barriers that prevent effective attention to obesity," he concludes. .

Decalogue of rights of people with obesity

1. Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality.

ALADIN study 2015.

2. Yuen M, Earle R, Kadambi N, et al.

A systematic review and evaluation of current evidence reveals 236 obesity-associated disorders.

The Obesity Society.

2016. New Orleans, LA: p TP-3166.

3. National Statistics Institute.

Resident population by date, sex and age (01 July 2020).

4. Aranceta-Bartrina J, et al.

Rev Esp Cardiol.

2016;69(6):579-87.

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