Advocating for stronger obesity action at WHO Africa Regional Committee
WHO Regional Committee for Africa (RC75) - 25 - 27 August 2025, Zambia
At the 75th Session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa (RC75), held in Lusaka, Zambia from 25 – 27 August 2025, the World Obesity Federation called for urgent action to address obesity as part of the region’s health and development agenda.
Represented by Ogweno Stephen and Brenda Chitindi, we delivered two key statements under agenda items focusing on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and the double burden of malnutrition.
Integrating obesity into primary health care
Speaking on the integration of NCD services into primary health care (Agenda Item 16.9), Ogweno Stephen welcomed progress made across the region but emphasised the urgent need to integrate obesity prevention, treatment, and management. He highlighted that adult obesity already exceeds 30% in several African countries, underlining the scale of the challenge.
“Obesity is a chronic disease that requires a multisectoral response,” Stephen noted, stressing the 'double dividend' of addressing obesity - improving health outcomes while generating economic benefits. He also urged policymakers to involve people with lived experience of obesity in designing programmes, ensuring services are inclusive, non-stigmatising, and effective.
Addressing the double burden of malnutrition
On the progress report addressing the double burden of malnutrition (Agenda Item A16), Brenda Chitindi expressed concern that Africa remains off track in halting the rise of overweight in children under five. She warned that childhood overweight often persists into adulthood, fuelling higher risks of NCDs later in life.
Chitindi also drew attention to the rapid rise in overweight and obesity among 5 - 19-year-olds, which in many countries now represents the dominant form of malnutrition. While welcoming the adoption of WHO-recommended measures in 46 Member States - including sugar-sweetened beverage taxes and front-of-pack nutrition labelling - she stressed that reversing the epidemic will require multiple multisectoral actions implemented in parallel.
She urged governments to integrate obesity into primary health care and to accelerate action by joining the WHO Acceleration Plan to Stop Obesity.
Building momentum
Both interventions reinforced the recognition of obesity as a chronic disease and the need to tackle it across the life course, linking the issue to broader health, nutrition, and economic agendas.
World Obesity has continued to build on the momentum from Lusaka to strengthen advocacy at the UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs in September 2025. We will also continue to champion voices of lived experience, particularly from Africa, to ensure people-centred, stigma-free policies.
Next year’s Regional Committee for Africa meeting will be hosted in Ethiopia in August 2026.
Related Resources
View allStatements Aug 29, 25
Statements to the 75th Regional Committee for Africa
World Obesity urges stronger action to integrate obesity care into PHC and address rising obesity in Africa.
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