Global Obesity Epidemic Trends and Management Dilemmas: Coping Strategies Based on the Case of China

Obesity has become the most challenging public health issue globally. The prevalence rate has grown extremely fast over the past 20 years. The global and Chinese epidemiology data revealed that obesity reached pandemic levels in the past 50 years. The increasing financial expenditure of obesity is associated with obesity-related diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, motor system diseases, kidney disease, respiratory diseases, and psychological problems. According to the economic data analysis, obesity and the associated diseases have driven a significant growth of investment, and the cost has been a big burden for the majority of countries, especially for developing countries. Thus far, obesity prevention and treatment strategies have not been successfully set up and executed. As a result, obesity has not been efficiently managed globally. Furthermore, China's obesity management is behind in policies, system setting, medical system, economic investment, etc., compared with the US or the EU. This article researches the epidemiology, health impacts, economic impacts, and current prevention and treatment of obesity. The result shows the importance and urgency of taking immediate action globally to control overweight and obesity. In particular, the article tries to draw attention to the low-income countries who have not considered obesity as a key challenge until now. In addition, managing obesity requires global cooperation and strong governance support to set up and execute the short-term and long-term strategies and plans. Both prevention and treatment are quite critical to control obesity. Finally, the article explores three dimensions to help manage obesity in China and aims to provide constructive suggestions to change the status quo of obesity.