Earlier this month to help mark the first united World Obesity Day, a new study was published in Clinical Obesity. The paper details the results of a survey conducted over 2 years on the readiness of health systems to provide obesity treatment services across 68 countries.
The study found that there is a severe a lack of adequate services, especially in lower income countries, and in rural areas of most countries. Lack of treatment was attributed to a broad range of issues including: no clear care pathways from primary care to secondary services; absent or limited secondary services in some regions; lack of trained multi‐disciplinary support professionals; potentially high costs to patients; long waiting times for surgery; and stigma experienced by patients within the health care services.
Source : worldobesity.org