Tackling obesity will be one of Malta’s health priorities during its EU Presidency, Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne said.
Addressing a roundtable discussion in Brussels organised by the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO), Dr Fearne said he would seek a mid-term review on what has been done as part of the 2014-2020 strategy on child obesity, launched by the Greek presidency back in 2014.
The diagnosis of obesity, he said, was still screened by other conditions such as diabetes and depression, but needed to be considered on its own, independently of these problems, even though it contributes to them and they to it.
Obesity, he said, had to be acknowledged as a disease for a way to treat it to be established. He also called for more funding to tackle the issue.
Dr Fearne was invited to the conference by former Prime Minister MEP Alfred Sant.
Dr Sant economic development in Europe, which led to a high standard of living, also had major negative side effects, including obesity.
Yet, it was also a major concern in societies, including European, where poverty or risk of poverty was rife.
"Beyond getting the obesity problem to the top of national agendas, our aim should also be to focus on making the fight against it a priority in the policy making of the European Union. Obesity needs to be tackled from all angles.”
These included the promotional strategies followed by companies that sold fast food, the way children were fed in schools and at home, the limited strategies available to normal citizens living in isolated conditions to deal with depression, and its prevalence among people living in low socio-economic conditions.
The challenge, Dr Sant said, was not just professional, social, political, or economic.
“It's a complex challenge that needs to be faced via a multidimensional, integrated approach that brings together, doctors, psychologists, sociologists, health planners, economists and marketeers, among others -- at both the national and European levels.”
Politicians, both the national and European levels, had to be on board and not simply consider that the issue did not win votes, he said.