Obesity is a disease. In order to change the way obesity is addressed across society, we are encouraged to become advocates, standing up and calling for change. The responsibility of creating a healthy environment that prioritises obesity as a health issue is a shared one.
Final year undergraduate students reading for a degree in Applied Food and Nutritional Sciences in the Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Malta, under the guidance of their lecturers, have taken this challenge and played an active role in supporting this year’s World Obesity Day through advocacy.
Traditionally, the department organises a physical outreach event on 4 March; this had become an annual appointment successful in reaching an increased number of people every year. Since holding this event was not an option this year due to COVID-19, students were encouraged to think outside the box and come up with alternative ways on how to deliver this year’s message ‘Every Body Needs Everybody’.
Several key people were identified, including local influencers on Instagram with a considerable number of followers, hosts of television shows aired during prime time, administrators of large social media platforms, marketing personnel of food outlets providing healthier food options and schools. These people were contacted and asked if they were interested in getting involved in advocating for World Obesity Day. Those who showed interest were directed to the World Obesity Day website and provided with the resources available, including message cards, profile frames, posters and even the right hashtags and asked to promote them. The response was very encouraging and on 4 March, posters, logos, videos and messages promoting World Obesity Day 2021 were shared widely across local media platforms.
This activity served not only to raise awareness amongst students, giving them the skills for advocating for this purpose in the future, but also reached a wide variety of people. In this way we can begin to reduce obesity worldwide through collective understanding of its root causes, the actions needed to address them and ensuring support and protection for every body.