Global Health Connector Event – Enabling the Prevention of Obesity and related NCDs with Convergence (I)

Global Health Connector Event PART 1. Obesity and related multimorbidity conditions are no longer confined to high-income settings—they are fast becoming a global health crisis, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This session at the Science Summit during UNGA89 calls for a fundamental reframing of obesity: not as a lifestyle failure, but as a systemic, socio-economic, and development challenge. By shifting the narrative from treatment to prevention, this dialogue will explore multisectoral strategies to address the root causes of obesity and strengthen resilience in health systems worldwide.

The global burden of obesity and associated multimorbidity conditions—such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers—has reached crisis proportions. Yet policy responses remain fragmented, underfunded, and often stigmatising. Too frequently, obesity is framed as a condition of individual behaviour or affluence, masking the structural determinants that drive its rise and obscuring the scale of the challenge in low- and middle-income countries, where prevalence is accelerating most rapidly.

This session aims to reset the global conversation. It will require a reframing of obesity not as a niche or lifestyle issue, but as a complex, systemic public health challenge with far-reaching implications for sustainable development. The costs of inaction are already visible—in rising rates of noncommunicable diseases, gendered disparities in health outcomes, and overwhelmed health systems. As populations age and urbanisation increases, the urgency of a preventive, equity-oriented approach becomes undeniable.

Key to this shift is recognising obesity and multimorbidity as issues shaped by food systems, urban planning, socioeconomic inequality, marketing practices, and cultural norms, not simply personal choice.