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TOWARDS AN OBESITY DAY
The ALCO Foundation (Anonymous Fighters Against Obesity) and The Argentinean Institute for Food and Nutrition (IAAN) supported by The argentinean TV Show “Cuestión de Peso” (“A matter of weight”, Channel 13), have launched a campaign to declare an Obesity Day. For that purpose the organizers are inviting leading organizations and individuals in the health field to support this initiative.
Though obesity has been part of other days of the International Health Observances, such as World Diabetes Day 2005 or the World Heart Day 2002, it is something more than just a single risk factor. It is the main contributor for chronic diseases and it is associated with more than a hundred complications, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, osteoarthritis, and disability. Because of this, obesity is now in several countries the second leading cause of preventable mortality. As revealed in the recent International Congress of Obesity (Sydney 2006), 36 million lives could be saved in the next 10 years through coordinated efforts in the prevention of chronic diseases.
Despite the fact that more than 1000 million adults and 150 million children are overweight, for a vast majority, this is just a matter of aesthetics with no relationship with health. In this context, the declaration of an Obesity Day could serve as an effective way to gather efforts to inform the public about obesity, and encourage actions to stop the epidemics and prevent further damages.
Since children are a particularly vulnerable group for both present and future obesity (to the point that for the first time in human history, millions of parents could outlive their offspring), the organizers had chosen November 20 th , day of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of the Child to celebrate also a potential Obesity Day.
We are convinced that, counting with your support for this campaign could give new strength to the fight against obesity both at a national and international level. At this point we are asking for a letter adhering to this initiative.