Obesity Prevention with Professor Boyd Swinburn

Concluding remarks by Professor Boyd Swinburn on the differing views in the debate on the obesity epidemic.

The industry response to the obesity epidemic is, according to those in the advocacy field, largely antagonistic towards public health as stated by Professor Boyd Swinburn.

The government responses to the obesity epidemic have been slow and problematic due to competing interests in the obesity debate.

There have been a number of research studies looking into the increases in obesity levels over the past 30 years and they all conclude that the dominant driver is on the energy intake side of the debate.

The food industry responded to the increased awareness of an obesity epidemic by introducing its own campaigns as explained by Professor Boyd Swinburn.

The politics and policy side of the obesity epidemic as explained by Professor Boyd Swinburn.

Boyd Swinburne explains WHO's major achievements and possessing a world status. The Collaborative WHO centre is 1 out of 900 collaborative centres in the world which has the honour of becoming the first centre to receive an official award for its obesity prevention programs. The research conducted at WHO is: 1. Community-based interventions. 2. Economics of obesity. 3. Advocacy towards governments and prevention methods. 4. Socio-cultural areas.

The WHO'S collaborative community-based intervention project was conducted over 3 years to discover the different environment changes including schools, physical activities can help children to grow up in an environment which is dedicated to the healthy food association. Geelong was used as an experimental testing ground because it offered both an Urban and Rural approaches to the study. 1. Project 1) was in Colac and had a primary school children focus. 1a. After the project concluded the primary school children in the area were gaining 1 Kg less than the children within Victoria. 1b. The WHO project helped to reduce the inequalities found within the area. 2. Project 2) Children under 5 years old. 3. Project 3) An Adolescences focus and remains an area of difficulty.

The collaborative WHO obesity prevention unit attempts to cover the whole capacity and reach of obesity prevention. The WHO centre focuses on what does work and what does not in order to find a deterrence strategy relating to the research conducted in communities, policies and WHO seeking other opportunities where WHO can assist society. The WHO centre wants to verify: 1. What discourages. 2. What is driving the obesity epidemic 3. Ways WHO can assist and how these actions can be applied.