Combating Childhood and Adolescent Obesity
Lever
Culture of health in society
Grant type
Product development
Beneficiary population
Health teams, public managers, and students from public and private schools in Rio de Janeiro and Niterói
Child and adolescent obesity is a growing and multifactorial issue, representing one of the major public health challenges in Brazil and worldwide. Data from the Food and Nutritional Surveillance System (Sisvan) of the Ministry of Health indicate that, in 2024, 31.3% of Brazilian children and adolescents aged 0 to 19 were overweight. Future projections are equally concerning: according to the World Obesity Atlas 2024, by 2035, half of Brazilians aged 5 to 19 will have a high Body Mass Index (BMI), increasing the risk of early development of chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as diabetes, hypertension, kidney complications, and cardiorespiratory diseases.
Given this scenario, the Childhood and Adolescent Obesity Response Project has been consolidating itself as a strategic and cross-cutting initiative. Developed by Instituto Desiderata with support from Umane and partners such as Bloomberg Philanthropies (via Global Health Advocacy Incubator), Fundo Rogério Jonas Zylbersztajn, Instituto Phi, and Fundação José Luiz Egydio Setúbal, the project works across several axes: advocacy, communication and awareness, training of health professionals, and implementation of specific care pathways in Primary Health Care (PHC). In 2024, one of the advances was the expansion of professional health training, originally initiated in Rio de Janeiro and extended to other regions through a partnership with UNICEF.
Advocacy actions have also gained strength and produced concrete results. In 2023, with the approval, sanction, and regulation of a law prohibiting the offer of ultraprocessed foods in school environments in Rio de Janeiro–RJ, Instituto Desiderata worked to ensure similar implementation in Niterói. In that city, a similar law had been enacted in 2023 but still awaited regulation. After extensive advocacy work, decree no. 15.457/2024 was published in June 2024, allowing the law to take effect and establishing inspection measures. The strategy involved drafting the decree and engaging with the municipal executive branch through coordination with the Municipal Council for Food and Nutritional Security (Comsea).
Development of healthier habits among children and adolescents and the implementation of actions that include care pathways, professional training, regulatory measures, data collection, and knowledge dissemination.
thousand accesses to the Obesidade Infantil em Foco portal in 2024
thousand accesses to the Panorama da Obesidade em Crianças e Adolescentes portal in 2024
health professionals from 7 state capitals trained in hybrid format in 2024
health professionals from across Brazil completed 100% virtual training in 2024
prohibiting the sale and offering of ultra-processed foods and beverages in schools were approved in the municipalities of Rio de Janeiro and Niterói in 2023.
during the opening of the Niterói Health Care Networks Management Forum in September 2023.
“The financial and technical support from Umane since 2020 has allowed us to expand the project’s actions, strengthen the team, and achieve significant results in strategic areas such as advocacy, structuring the care pathway in Niterói, training health professionals, and communication—promoting concrete advancements in the public and political debate.”
