The World Health Organization (WHO) projects that by 2025 almost 167 million people, including adults and children, will incur health complications due to living with obesity.¹ In evaluating this data, it is important to keep in mind that there are different relationships about body mass index (BMI) and the associated health risks across the globe, causing variation in WHO’s criteria and classification for overweight and obesity.

The prevalence of obesity is staggering and has profound implications for the global workforce. Since adults spend a significant amount of their time at work, there is a need to determine how employers can play an important role in curbing the growing prevalence of obesity throughout the world.

The association of people living with obesity and decreased workforce productivity, complicated health conditions and increased health care spending vividly shows how important it is for employers to prioritize weight management programs within benefits strategies.

This guide aims to provide employers with guidance on how to tackle the complicated disease of obesity in five countries that are of high importance to Business Group members: Canada, China, India, Mexico and the U.K. Moreover, for each country, the guide provides a deeper context by discussing some of the following implications for each region.

1 | Prioritizing Obesity as a Disease: Delving into How a Country Landscape Impacts Outcomes

What a weight management program looks like around the world varies greatly, as does the overall environment, pharmacological options and what each government can offer employees. Therefore, employers need to gain a better understanding of their role and how to address health care gaps that can impact prevalence and long-term health outcomes as well as determine regional opportunities and potential barriers to treatment with an eye toward equity.

2 | Tailoring a Global Consistency Strategy to Promote Workplace Obesity Programs in Each Country

Each country has distinct circumstances impacting how employers can best manage their path to a healthy future. Employers may need to double-down on anti-stigma campaigns or identify how to provide an environment more conducive to natural movement depending on where an employee is located.