Help Stop Weight Stigma for Obesity Care Week 2021!

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Obesity Care Week 2021 (#OCW2021) is here!

From Feb. 28 to March 6, 2021, our Salud America! health team is happy to be an OCW2021 Champion to support this awareness week.

Obesity Care Week is an annual public awareness effort to end weight stigma, as well as raise awareness, educate and push for a better world for people living with obesity.

Salud America! research shows that many people face issues with the non-medical drivers of health—from poverty to access to affordable housing and transit—that contribute to higher rates of obesity. Obesity can impact anyone, and Latino adults have high obesity rates (47%), as do Latino children (20.7%). This, in turn, leads to disparities in diabetes and other health conditions. Addressing the non-medical drivers, such as improving access to healthy food, can help address obesity.

#OCW2021 has different focus days to stimulate conversations about obesity:

• February 28: Launch Day
• March 1: Weight
• March 2: Obesity Prevention & Treatment
• March 3: Access to Care
• March 4: World Obesity Day
• March 5: Childhood Obesity
• March 6: “I Care” Day

Please join us in supporting this annual awareness week to help change the way we care about obesity.

Obesity Care Week is led by Obesity Action Coalition, The Obesity Society, the STOP Obesity Alliance, the Obesity Medicine Association, and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

The Obesity Action Coalition also has launched a national campaign to end weight stigma. Sadly, surveys show that 90% of people felt that weight stigma exists in today’s society, and 41.7% had experienced stigma because of their weight.

The campaign also has great PSAs and infographics and fact sheets on this topic.

Sign-up for OCW Alerts or visit ObesityCareWeek.org. Use #OCW2021 on social media.

Editor’s Note: Image credit to the Obesity Action Coalition.