4 / 4
Volume 7, Issue 6 (Suppl)
J Obes Weight Loss Ther
ISSN: 2165-7904 JOWT, an open access journal
Obesity Meeting 2017
October 23-24, 2017
Page 13
Notes:
conference
series
.com
October 23-24, 2017 Dubai, UAE
14
th
Global Obesity Meeting
Obesity prevention and control in the Middle East: Challenges and opportunities
N
on-communicable diseases (NCDs) and particularly obesity is prevalent in the Middle East and have become an
important public health issue and a major economic burden on the countries in the region. With the support of the
World Health Organization (WHO), public health authorities are in the process of developing national nutrition strategies
and implementing measures to prevent and control obesity at National and at regional level. Regulators in the countries of the
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are developing measures such as restrictions on the availability of unhealthy foods, health-
awareness campaigns and the most recent actions underway are the reduction levels of sugar, salt and fat in food products, the
introduction of taxes on fast foods and soft drinks and the development of food standards to limit trans-fat and salt content
in food products. Despite these initiatives to prevent obesity, public health authorities in the Middle East countries still face
many challenges due to the absence of a policy framework on health and nutrition and of institutional capacities to develop
sustainable nutrition programs, in addition to surveillance gaps and the absence of recent data on obesity. Based on successful
policies and strategies that were implemented at regional and global level to fight against obesity and putting an emphasis on
childhood obesity, the presentation will assess what is the way forward to address and overcome these challenges.
Biography
Rola Arab is the Founder and Managing Director of RA Consulting and an Advisor on policies and regulations in the health and nutrition and food safety areas for
Europe, Middle East and Africa. She has earned Bachelor’s degree in Law from Saint Joseph University in Beirut, Lebanon and Master’s degree in European Affairs
from the College of Europe in Warsaw, Poland. She has participated in many speaking events on health and nutrition and she collaborates on a regular basis on
regulatory projects and training programs with public health authorities such as the GCC Standardization Organization and the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia.
rola.arab@raconsulting.coRola Arab
RA Consulting, Belgium
Rola Arab, J Obes Weight Loss Ther 2017, 7:6 (Suppl)
DOI: 10.4172/2165-7904-C1-050