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Hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 the deaths could have been prevented if the obesity epidemic had been addressed, the World Obesity Federation said.
Obesity It has been linked to an increased risk of severe Covid-19 and death from the disease.
And a report from the World Obesity Federation states that around nine out of 10 deaths from Covid-19 have occurred in countries with high rates of obesity.
This includes the UK, which has the third highest Covid death rate in the world and the fourth highest obesity rate.
The report, which has analyzed obesity rates in countries around the world, as well as deaths from Covid-19, also says that the death rate is ten times higher in countries where 50% or more of the population is overweight. .
The authors said that 2.2 million of the 2.5 million deaths worldwide occurred in countries with high levels of obesity.
They added that countries with low levels of obesity do not have high mortality rates, but other factors could also be at play.
The World Health Organization said the report should act as a “wake-up call” for governments to address their obesity problems.
Report author Dr Tim Lobstein, Senior Policy Adviser to the World Obesity Federation and Visiting Professor at the University of Sydney, said: “We now know that an overweight population is the next pandemic that is about to occur. .
“Look at countries like Japan and South Korea, where they have very low levels of deaths from Covid-19, as well as very low levels of obesity in adults. They have prioritized public health on a variety of measures, including population weight, and it has paid off in the pandemic.
Governments have been negligent and ignored the economic value of a healthy population at their own risk.
“For the last decade they have not tackled obesity, despite setting goals at United Nations meetings.
“Covid-19 is just the latest infection made worse by weight problems, but the warning signs were there. We have seen it in the past with Mers, H1N1 and other respiratory diseases ”.
Johanna Ralston, executive director of the World Obesity Federation, said: “The failure to address the root causes of obesity for many decades is clearly responsible for hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths.”
Commenting on the report, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization, said: “This report should act as a wake-up call to governments around the world.
“The correlation between obesity and Covid-19 death rates is clear and compelling.
“Investing in public health and coordinated international action to address the root causes of obesity is one of the best ways that countries can build resilience in health systems after a pandemic. We urge all countries to seize this moment. “
