The complex system challenges of obesity
The complex systems challenge of obesity
Professor Harry Rutter
Date: Thursday 5 March, 16:00
Location: Oxford Martin School, seminar room 1 and online
The global epidemic of obesity presents a major and growing threat to both health and equity. The arrival of GLP1 agonist drugs has been transformational for many people, but they do not eliminate the problem, and they bring some problems of their own. Public, media and political discourse around obesity is dominated by a framing that places responsibility at the individual level, but the fundamental drivers of the problem are structural.
It has become a cliché to describe obesity as a complex problem, but all too often this rhetoric does not translate into reality. We need to move beyond cliché to examine and address complex interactions between multiple factors, ranging from structural incentives within our research systems to the actions of corporations, from sustainable food systems to tackling stigma. None of this is or will be easy, especially in the current geopolitical climate, but meaningful engagement with complexity may help us to meet at least some of these pressing challenges.
Professor Harry Rutter was the founder director of the National Obesity Observatory for England. He led the establishment of the National Child Measurement Programme in England, and is a member of the steering group for the WHO Europe Child Obesity Surveillance Initiative. He is co-director of the University of Bath Centre for 21st Century Public Health; co-chaired (with Prof Dame Theresa Marteau) the Lancet Commission on population health post Covid-19, which addresses the interactions between non-communicable disease, infectious disease pandemics, and environmental degradation; and is a Commissioner on the EASL Lancet Commission on liver disease in Europe. He has performed a range of advisory roles to the Scottish, Welsh and UK health systems, and is an advisor to the World Health Organisation at both European and global levels. Harry was co-chair of the UK Government SAGE Environmental and Modelling subgroup and attended main SAGE during the Covid-19 pandemic. He is chair of the External Expert Advisory Board to the €95m EU Joint Action on the prevention of cancer and non-communicable diseases. His research is focused on effective ways to improve the research, policy, and practice responses to complex system problems in public health, with a particular emphasis on obesity, physical activity, transport, and built environment.
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