Key messages
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Health professionals are poorly prepared to treat obesity
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Policy and environmental changes are unlikely to achieve substantial weight loss in patients with severe obesity
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Training of health-care providers to treat obesity needs to address their biases about patients with obesity, ability to employ behaviour change strategies, and ability to work collaboratively with interprofessional teams
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Multiple therapeutic modalities, including behavioural therapy, pharmacotherapy, and bariatric surgery, can be used in the treatment of adult obesity; fewer options are available for paediatric patients
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Alignment of the intensity of therapy with the severity of the disease is necessary to improve care for obesity
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Integration of clinical and community approaches is necessary for sustained weight loss
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The co-occurrence of obesity and undernutrition in low-income and middle-income countries poses unique challenges