euro-obesity-euro-vaccines-2018-posters

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academies

J u n e 2 8 - 2 9 , 2 0 1 8 | A m s t e r d a m , N e t h e r l a n d s

Joint Event on

OBESITY AND WEIGHT MANAGEMENT

VACCINES AND IMMUNOLOGY

International Conference on

Asian Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Volume 8

ISSN:

2249-622X

DEVELOPING A WHOLE SYSTEMS APPROACH TO OBESITY

Paul Gately

Leeds Beckett University, Philippines

besity is recognized as a major public health problem. Despite awareness of the significant increases in obesity levels and the

major individual and societal consequences, there is limited evidence that efforts to tackle the problem have been successful.

The limited impacts of actions to date have led to new thinking about how to best tackle obesity. Obesity is a result of a complex

and adaptive system, therefore the chance of a silver bullet solution is small and naïve. It is recognized that traditional linear

solutions to complex problems are unlikely to be impactful due to the changing and complex nature of the system. Therefore,

systems thinking has been proposed to overcome the weakness of traditional methods. We worked with 11 local authorities in

England to develop a relevant and usable whole systems approach to obesity on behalf of Public Health England. Through an

overarching action research methodology, we used and developed a variety of tools to assess the impact of the process on local

authorities. We co-produced with these local authorities a six-step process to implement a whole systems approach. We will

outline the proposed six step process, the lessons learnt as part of the co-productive process and some outcomes to date.

Asian J Biomed Pharmaceut Sci 2018, Volume 8 | DOI: 10.4066/2249-622X-C1-003