Obesity is a disease: global health policy must catch up

Obesity is a chronic, biologically driven, and progressive disease. It contributes to more than 200 health conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and multiple cancers.1 Yet in global policy, it remains largely invisible. The 2018 UN High-Level Meeting Political Declaration on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) failed to recognise obesity as a disease.2 Childhood obesity and prevention were only mentioned three times, with no acknowledgement of the broader burden or the need for treatment—a public health failure.