ABSTRACT
Reversing the global obesity epidemic is one of the most serious public health challenges of the twenty-first century [1]. It is now widely accepted that obesity is a complex problem that needs to be addressed through comprehensive multisectoral action [2]. Over the last 15 years, the World Health Organization (WHO) and member states have collaborated to develop global strategies for the prevention and control of obesity and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) [2-6] and to improve maternal and child health [7]. Reducing childhood obesity has been an important part of these comprehensive strategies. This is motivated by the need to protect children from harm, ensure their right to healthy food, and to reduce the global burden of diet-related NCDs, for which obesity is a major risk factor [2]. Most recently, in 2014, to better inform the development and implementation of comprehensive policy approaches, the WHO established the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity [2]. As a result of these global efforts, there are now agreed high-level policies, strategies, and targets for addressing childhood obesity. However, translating these global recommendations into specific policy actions at the national level remains challenging [8]. No country has comprehensively adopted the recommended strategies [8]. Policy adoption is often characterized by the implementation of a few isolated interventions. These have mostly focused on the soft policy options of social marketing and education, rather than on comprehensive policy programs, including policies to create healthy food environments [8].
