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Raising the bar for evidence-based policy: a blueprint for halving obesity

In A healthy life

3 Dec 2024 12:00 – 13:00

Online

Free

This event took place on Tuesday 3 December. You can watch the event recording below.

Event recording

The opinions expressed in this event recording are those of the speaker. For more information, view our full statement on external contributors.

Everyone deserves to live a long and healthy life, but right now almost two-thirds of adults in the UK are living with excess weight or obesity. As obesity levels have risen, we’ve seen a succession of government strategies focused on tackling the issue. However, the level of ambition hasn’t met the scale of the challenge, and they haven’t focussed on the most high-impact solutions and policies.

Nesta has collaborated with academic experts to build a toolkit that evaluates the cost and impact of different obesity policies. The toolkit identifies the most effective high-impact, low-cost solutions, and shows that it’s possible and affordable to halve obesity in the UK by 2030.

This analysis is designed to raise the bar for evidence-based health policy. For the first time, policymakers can use this toolkit to compare solutions with a clear understanding of the most effective routes to pursue and at what scale.

On Tuesday 3 December we were joined by health and policy experts including Professor Dame Theresa Marteau, Director of the Behaviour and Health Research Unit and Katherine Jenner, Director at The Obesity Health Alliance for a live webinar. They joined Nesta’s Hugo Harper and CEO Ravi Gurumurthy to discuss Nesta’s blueprint for halving obesity and the opportunity ahead for governments, food manufacturers and retailers to play their part in building a healthier food system.

Visit Nesta’s blueprint for halving obesity to explore the most effective policies to turn the tide on obesity and help more people live longer, healthier lives.

Ravi Gurumurthy

He/Him

Ravi is the Group Chief Executive Officer at Nesta. Ravi was previously responsible for the International Rescue Committee’s work in designing, testing and scaling products and services for people affected by crisis in over 40 countries - from reducing acute malnutrition and intimate partner violence, to expanding employment for Syrian refugees. Prior to joining the International Rescue Committee in 2013, Ravi held a number of roles in the UK Government, including Director of Strategy at the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change and as a strategic advisor to the Foreign Secretary. Across many departments, Ravi led a number of major social and environmental reforms including the development of the world’s first legally-binding carbon emissions targets and the integration of children’s services. Ravi has also worked as a researcher at the think-tank Demos and in local government in London.

Hugo Harper

He/Him

Hugo leads Nesta's healthy life mission. Hugo joins Nesta from the Behavioural Insights Team where he led their work on health and education, helping them grow from a small team in the Cabinet Office, to a global organisation of more than 250 people. He has overseen projects with a wide range of partners including No10, government departments, large charities and private sector players. He has worked on all aspects of public health, from antimicrobial resistance to workplace well-being. Within public health, obesity is his specialist interest area. Since 2013 he has been a key advisor in the area and has produced multiple field trials, lab studies, impact models and policy recommendations. During the pandemic, Hugo spent almost all his time on the Covid-19 response and sat on the SAGE sub-group SPI-B. Outside of the UK, he has spent time in both Singapore and Australia working on developing the adoption of a more behavioural approach to public health policy implementation. Hugo holds an MSc, with distinction, in Behavioural and Economic Sciences from the University of Warwick, as well as a BA in Psychology and Physiology from Oxford University.

Katharine Jenner

She/Her

Registered Nutritionist Katharine Jenner joined as Director the OHA in 2022 after fifteen years working with Consensus Action on Salt, Sugar and Health (CASSH). Katharine led the setting up of Action on Sugar, supported the implementation of the salt, sugar and calorie reduction policies as well as other key policies such as the Soft Drinks Industry Levy and Front of Pack Labelling, and is a Trustee of Sustain and Chair of the Children’s Food Campaign.

Professor Dame Theresa Marteau

She/Her

Professor Dame Theresa Marteau is a psychologist and behavioural scientist in the Clinical School at the University of Cambridge, and Honorary Fellow at Christ’s College, Cambridge. Her research interests include: development and evaluation of interventions to change behaviour (principally diet, tobacco and alcohol consumption) to improve population health equitably and sustainably, with a particular focus on targeting non-conscious processes and also acceptability to publics and policy makers of government intervention to change behaviour. She is a Commissioner for the EAT-Lancet 2.0 Commission on Food, Planet and Health, focusing on making accessible to 10 billion people healthy diets produced within planetary boundaries.

Part of

Creating a blueprint for halving obesity in the UK

Raising the bar for evidence-based policy: a blueprint for halving obesity

About Nesta

Raising the bar for evidence-based policy: a blueprint for halving obesity

This event took place on Tuesday 3 December. You can watch the event recording below.