Plan of Action for the Prevention of Obesity in Children and Adolescents

The countries of the Americas took an important step forward in the fight against the rising epidemic of obesity when they unanimously signed a 5-year Plan of Action for the Prevention of Obesity in Children and Adolescents, during the 53rd Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which was also 66th Session of the Regional Committee of the World Health Organization for the Americas. Among other measures, the plan calls for the implementation of fiscal policies, such as taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages and energy-dense nutrient-poor products, regulation of food marketing and labeling, improvement of school nutrition and physical activity environments, and promotion of breastfeeding and healthy eating. Its goal is to halt the rise of the epidemic so that there is no increase in current country prevalence rates of obesity.