MPs and experts agreed at a parliamentary roundtable on Thursday that obesity prevention requires consistent policies and should be a national public health priority.
The roundtable, Effective Policies for Obesity Prevention and Management, was organized by the Health under Pressure Coalition against Obesity during a special meeting of Parliament’s Health Committee.
Tackling obesity required policy continuity between the legislative and executive branches, with all stakeholders, local authorities and civil society organizations involved, National Assembly Chair Michaela Dotsova said at the opening. Minister of Health Katya Ivkova said a healthy diet and physical activity were the first steps towards preventing obesity.
Diabetology Clinic Head Tsvetalina Tankova of the Acad. Ivan Penchev University Hospital of Endocrinology said obesity prevalence was rising in developing countries, while Bulgaria ranked sixth in Europe for adult obesity and fifth for childhood obesity. Bulgarian Medical Association Chair Nikolay Branzalov said the scale of the problem required action on multiple fronts. He cited a study covering eight European countries that found 278,000 deaths a year attributable to obesity. Parliamentary Health Committee Chair Kostadin Angelov said a separate national obesity programme could improve health indicators in future.
Coalition against Obesity Board Member Arkadi Sharkov said more than half of Bulgarians had obesity or were overweight, with estimates ranging from 2.9 million to 3.4 million people. Paediatrics Department Head Violeta Iotova of St Marina University Hospital in Varna said obesity was not something children grew out of: 55%-80% of affected children continued to carry excess weight, while those who lost weight still had metabolic problems. National Association of General Practitioners in Bulgaria Deputy Chair Gergana Nikolova proposed classifying childhood overweight and obesity as diagnoses requiring regular medical follow-up, to enable closer monitoring in primary outpatient care.
Head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Office in Bulgaria Nela Vamporova presented measures under the WHO Acceleration Plan to Stop Obesity. She said the international approach focused on systemic change, national responsibility and measurable results. A key practical principle was to choose a small number of high-impact, feasible interventions rather than a broad set of general intentions. Each intervention should have a specific implementation plan, indicators to measure results and an accountability mechanism. Physical activity among children with chronic illnesses or disabilities, and those with limited proficiency in Bulgarian, also needed attention, she said. WHO also had recommendations on the consumption of sugar, sweeteners, fats and trans fats, alongside a full range of data and tools to support the participants’ work, she added.
Progressive Bulgaria MP Georgi Iliev proposed turning the roundtable into a working group. The issue was of major social importance, and the focus should be on concrete results rather than counting campaigns, he said. Child development should also be discussed at future meetings and forthcoming forums, he added.
Democratic Bulgaria MP Alexander Simidchiev said appropriate policies for children were important and should address social and economic as well as medical considerations. Preventing the need for obesity treatment was the right approach, he added.
Grigor Dimitrov Foundation Director and Board Member Maria Dimitrova said children needed physical activity and daily guidance on eating, keeping active and learning. She described obesity prevention as crucial and cited the foundation’s work with different schools. Dimitrova said the foundation was ready to share its experience and materials that could serve as examples for others, and urged parents to work as partners in support of sound policies.
Responsibility for tackling obesity could not rest with individuals alone, Health under Pressure Chair Gergana Passy said. Political discussion was therefore essential, because the right to make healthy choices and the provision of health services were shared responsibilities. Such policies should be developed through national programmes, she said, noting that obesity was a disease that opened the door to many other illnesses.
MPs and Experts Call for Obesity Prevention to Become National Priority 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-10-08 20:00:28
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