We are thrilled that Australia’s clinical practice guidelines for the management of obesity are being updated! Australia’s previous clinical guidelines were first published in 2010 and were rescinded in 2018, leaving clinicians without guidelines or a framework of evidence-based approaches to support people living with obesity. A major priority of the Obesity Collective in the last few years has been advocacy to update the guidelines with evidence-based, stepped approach options to support people at all stages of the obesity continuum from early intervention to support for people living with severe obesity.
On World Obesity Day 2020, The Obesity Collective led a national call for action to develop updated guidelines that include transdisciplinary, integrated, and cost-effective models of care with aligned, non-stigmatising messaging. We stated that the inclusion of the lived experience voice was core to developing person-centred and implementable guidelines. We worked with other health peak bodies, including the Weight Issues Network (WIN) team, to advocate and were able to attract considerable media attention.
Congrats to the team at Deakin University who have been appointed to lead the review and update. As Australia’s health peak body for obesity, we will support Deakin’s guideline development team wherever we can. The inclusion of lived experience and consumer voices in the guideline development team is a huge win for people who live with overweight and obesity. It’s also a huge win for the Obesity Collective and our members, who have fought a long battle to get obesity care on the agenda of government.
