The challenge of obesity in the WHO European Region and the strategies for response

In response to the emerging challenge of the obesity epidemic, the WHO regional Office for Europe organized the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Counteracting Obesity, which took place in Istanbul, Turkey on 15-17 November 2006. This book collects the papers that were written by a large group of experts in public health, nutrition and medicine to provide background for the Conference; a smaller book already published by the Regional Office summarizes many of their conclusions.1 Both this book and the summary illustrate the dynamics of the epidemic and its impact on public health throughout the European Region. In particular, the obesity epidemic’s rapid expansion to the countries in the eastern half of the Region causes great concern, as they now suffer from a double burden of disease linked to both under- and overnutrition.