Action Obesity SA

ACTION is hosted by the MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, with a vision…. ‘’To prevent and manage obesity in Africa through evidence based actions!’’ An urgent need for the primary prevention and management of obesity exists in African communities from early life through to ageing. The African Centre for Obesity Prevention (ACTION) is a non-profit research centre at the MRC/Wits DPHRU, that aims to prevent obesity by promoting interventions, systems, policies, and programmes, that encourage healthy eating and physical activity, in Africans across the life-course. ACTION will provide rigorous and comparable measurement of Africa’s obesity prevalence and evaluate the strategies used to address the impact on populations. ACTION makes this information freely available so that policymakers have the evidence they need to make informed decisions about how to allocate resources to best improve population health. OUR OBJECTIVES To summarise and disseminate African data and trends in obesity, to the public, government and media; To provide a repository of the most effective obesity prevention policies and programmes available in Africa in order to encourage lifestyle change to prevent and manage obesity; To provide a credible and evidence based source of information on the causes of obesity and associated NCDs, as well as fact sheets on how to increase physical activity, decrease sedentary behaviour, and make healthy nutritional choices; To support new local and international studies in the field of obesity prevention in African populations; To provide intellectual expertise for national surveillance studies and obesity targeted interventions across Africa. OUR MISSION Our mission is to prevent and manage obesity, and in-turn improve the health of Africa’s population through evidence based science and research about the obesity epidemic. RESEARCH ACTION’s research is organised around answering three critical questions that