Oral Presentation ANZOS-ASLM-ICCR 2019

Lessons learnt in policy implementation for obesity prevention? (#43)

Paul Kelly 1
  1. Australian National University, Yarralumla, ACT, Australia

Sometimes it feels like trying to implement obesity prevention policy is an up-hill battle. Surely it is obvious that something urgently needs to be done to arrest and hopefully reverse the rise in obesity prevalence? Surely the value proposition is clear, and the potential solutions are based on sufficient evidence to justify immediate, comprehensive and sustained action? Then why does it feel like we continue to repeat surveys, re-design similar policies and plans, implement them as pilot programs, demonstrate success only to see them abandoned or modified and then return to the beginning?

The whole of government Healthy Weight Initiative was launched in the Australian Capital Territory in 2013, after two years of consultation and planning. It won ACT the “gold medal” in the ANZOS Coach Potato award and led to several years of comprehensive programs which changed schools, workplaces, urban planning and the food environment. Despite challenges to implementation, the initiative succeeded and yet it was scaled back and then abandoned within five years.

As mayor of New York City, Bloomberg became known as the public health mayor, with obesity prevention a key component of his plan to improve the lives of New Yorkers. Many of his initiatives gained global attention for their comprehensiveness and boldness. But not all went to plan and many of the more famous reforms were vigorously opposed and either never implemented or rapidly abandoned.

With reference to the Greek myth of Sisyphus – the man destined to eternally push a heavy boulder uphill only to see it roll straight down to the bottom of the hill – I will demonstrate that even though the task of designing, implementing and evaluating obesity prevention initiatives is repetitive, hard, and at times appears futile, there is reason for optimism.