NATIONAL obesity policy leader Marty Jovic will lend his expertise to a grassroots movement to tackle the swelling health issue across the region.
Mr Jovic, a health economics and policy partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, will join a panel of regional business leaders next month to break down the impact on families, community, business and productivity in the Central Highlands.
Discussion will also focus on economic benefits of intervention for communities, including investments in innovative obesity prevention and preventing weight regain.
The forum is part of the Central Highlands Regional Partnership Prevention Lab leadership series.
Mr Jovic is the author behind PwC’s Weighing the Costs of Obesity: A case for action report in 2015. The report found the direct and indirect costs of obesity on the nation were $8.6 billion and, if left unchecked, would rise to an $87.7 billion additional drain by 2025.
Central Highlands Regional Partnership aims to achieve a five per cent increase in the number of people meeting physical activity and nutrition guidelines in the region.
A Prevention Lab, launched in May, is working to transform Central Highlands into Australia’s healthiest nation by designing an action plan tailored to the region’s well-being needs.
One in four adults are obese in the Central Highlands, one in three adults are overweight and one in 10 adults are getting enough nutrition from their diet.
One quarter of Central Highlands’ children are deemed an unhealthy weight.
University of Melbourne public health professor and global health champion Rob Moodie applauded the ground-breaking approach at the Lab launch.
Mr Jovic is part of an Australian obesity collective, calling for an urgent national strategy approach to obesity prevention.
Central Highlands Regional Partnership forum is at Ballarat Technology Park in Lydiard Street on August 1.
For further information and to book for the free event: http://bit.ly/obesity-what-it-costs-us by July 22.
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