A new educational chair in the prevention and management of obesity will soon be available to students and health professionals, the Cardiovascular Health Action Network (RASC) announced on Tuesday.
This new training program will allow health professionals and students to better advise and support a person struggling with obesity, using a patient-centered approach.
“The chair will contribute, among other things, to ensuring that people living with obesity are no longer afraid to access the prevention and treatments they need,” said Dr. Julie St-Pierre, founder of the RASC and director of the Maison de Santé Prévention – Approach 180.
Approach 180 is intended to be an “educational, intensive and holistic” approach which, in addition to covering all the medical aspects, aims to modify the family and psychosocial environment of a young person, by promoting healthy lifestyles or by recommending specialized services, for example.
This chair was made possible thanks to a donation of $2 million from Novo Nordisk, a global healthcare company whose goal is to overcome serious chronic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity.
This training program comes in time to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the recognition of obesity as a disease by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Currently, nearly one in four adult Canadians lives daily with obesity, and about one in ten Canadians dies from it prematurely. Over the past 25 years, the number of cases of obesity has doubled in Quebec and Canada. In total, 25% of Quebecers say they are struggling with obesity.
According to the RASQ, if the global epidemic of overweight and obesity is not contained, there could be considerable complications for the quality of life of millions of people.
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com