Obesity charter to be launched in Peterborough to get city fit again

At next week’s cabinet meeting on March 24, councillors will hear a report requesting support and commitment to the Obesity Charter, a long-term vision which sets out a shared vision for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to become a place where, in 20 years’ time, healthy weight is typical.

“By 2045, Cambridgeshire & Peterborough will be a place where healthy weight is the norm, where all residents have equal opportunities to live healthy lives, and where obesogenic environments have been transformed to support wellbeing for all,” the charter states.

“Obesogenic environment” is a relatively new, catch-all term which essentially means any setting which tends to cause obesity.

The report set to go before Cabinet has been authored by Dr Damilola Akinsulire, Consultant in Public Health.

“Obesity levels remain high across the UK and locally, with 64 per cent of adults overweight or obese and significant increases documented since the 1990s,” she explains.

“Childhood obesity has stabilised but has not declined, and inequalities remain entrenched,” she adds.

Dr Akinsulire’s report goes on to highlight how obesity manifests itself unequally across our region:

“In Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, obesity disproportionately affects people living in more deprived areas, certain ethnic groups, disabled residents, and those with limited access to healthy food and physical activity environments,” she states.

The report also says obesity is far more than just a health issue:

“The economic impact is substantial,” she notes: “obesity related productivity losses and healthcare demand cost the UK over £126bn annually.”

The charter proposes three key areas of action to tackle these pressing issues:

Improving obesogenic environments that shape people’s behaviour;

Supporting healthier individual behaviours through evidence-based behavioural interventions, and:

implementing a coordinated, whole-system approach across organisations and sectors.

It is hoped that, because this approach prioritises structural and environmental changes – such as planning policies, food environments, and workplace initiatives – it will succeed where initiatives based on relying solely on individual behaviour change have so often failed.

If the charter is to be successful then it will need public sector leaders to pledge to make obesity prevention a strategic priority, as well as committing to allocating resources, collaborating across sectors, and remaining accountable for progress.