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Helsinki (pte028/30.05.2003/15:21) - European medical experts today launched an initiative to combat obesity in Europe at the 12th European Congress on Obesity in Helsinki.
The initiative will focus on training medical personnel throughout Europe on the subject of obesity. The initiators believe that many doctors are not prepared to adequately deal with this problem and treat patients.
The number of overweight people has doubled or tripled in many European countries in the past years. This is a burden to health systems, as obesity increases the likelihood of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and certain types of cancer.
The new obesity programme is organised by the "International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) http://www.iotf.org and the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) http://www.iotf.org/oonet/easo . The so-called SCOPE (Specialist Certification of Obesity Professional in Europe) scheme will involve obesity experts throughout Europe and offer doctors, nurses and pharmacists training programmes to improve treatment.
"There is a desperate need for a better informed medical profession both among specialists and general practice. Eventually we hope to extend the reach of this programme to include non-medical personnel as well," said IOTF chairman Philip James in a press release.
"In some cases there is only one specialist to cover 16 million people, and in the worst examples there can be a ratio of 100,000 obese patients to one qualified expert consultant. There is a massive problem throughout Europe and we recognize we must act on this urgently, " added Prof Hainer, head of an obesity specialist unit in Prague.
The SCOPE network will provide general practitioners (GPs) and medical staff with online training to increase their knowledge of the problem of obesity, while a team of doctors will develop specialist training programmes.
The first pilot programme to train GPs will take place tomorrow, Saturday, in Helsinki. About 1,700 doctors, nutritionists and researchers will be taking part.
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