For Chile to advance towards better health and less obesity, more accountability is needed over the enforcement of existing rules. We also need to do more: establish a “green” card that would allow Chile’s vulnerable populations access to healthy food;  increase physical activity as a requirement in our schools; and raise taxes on harmful products that bear the warning labels.

The greatest pandemic humanity is facing isn’t Covid, it’s obesity. That condition kills around 41 million people annually – 112,000 people a day – through cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, and dementia. Forty thousand of those cases are completely avoidable, since they involve young people. In contrast, Covid caused a total of 8 million deaths over a two-year period.  In addition, obesity causes years lost in terms of healthy lives, increases the need for hospital beds, and results in greater public health expenses.