The right care, in the right place, at the right time: a policy brief

Children with overweight and obesity are at greater risk of developing chronic diseases at younger ages, along with a range of health conditions and comorbidities that affect their quality of life across their lifetime. In 2017, more than 35 leading community, public health, medical and academic groups united for the first time to call for urgent Federal Government action to address Australia’s serious obesity problem and published the ‘Tipping the Scale’ report which calls for the establishment of a national obesity taskforce. In 2018, Australian ministers agreed that a National Obesity Strategy would be developed and that the initial development phase would include a Commonwealth funded National Obesity Summit held in February 2019. Given the adverse health impact of obesity on children with excess weight, the New South Wales (NSW) Premier has prioritised timely and accessible interventions to optimise lifestyle factors contributing to excess adiposity to “efficiently reduce overweight and obesity rates of children by five percentage points by 2025”.