- A coalition of scientific and patient advocacy groups is urging swift action to address Portugal’s obesity epidemic, calling for political commitments to be translated into concrete measures.
- Despite existing plans, key steps to combat obesity have yet to be implemented.
Portugal’s Parliament is hosting a conference today, March 3, 2026, titled “Stemming Obesity: If Not Now, When?” The event marks the public presentation of 13 recommendations and key priorities aimed at reversing the country’s growing obesity crisis.
The platform Recalibrar a Balança – which brings together representatives from the scientific community and individuals living with obesity – has organized the recommendations around four core areas: Prevention, Access to Treatment, Intelligent System Organization and Results Focus. The goal is to accelerate the implementation of a public response that is structured, integrated, and evidence-based, as recognized by health authorities. Addressing obesity is a significant public health concern, and these recommendations aim to provide a roadmap for effective intervention.
Even as several measures have been formally proposed, their actual implementation remains incomplete, raising concerns about the urgency of an effective and integrated response to obesity in Portugal.
Representatives from Recalibrar a Balança are issuing three urgent calls to action, warning that delays in these decisions will hinder the healthcare system’s ability to adequately address the needs of people living with obesity.
- Operationalization of the National Obesity Prevention and Management Program, created within the Directorate-General of Health through a dispatch from the Secretary of State for Health. This program is intended to serve as a support structure for implementing, monitoring, and evaluating an integrated healthcare response to obesity. The governance and operational model for the program, however, have not yet been published.
- Implementation of Multidisciplinary Obesity Teams in Local Health Units (ULS), considered critical for the effective implementation of the Integrated Care Pathway for People with Obesity, defined by the Directorate-General of Health.
- Publication of a decree establishing an exceptional co-payment scheme for medications used to treat obesity. A technical study to support this decision was completed and published by INFARMED in December of last year.
“Obesity is a complex chronic disease with a profound impact on the lives of millions of people and increasingly threatens the sustainability of the National Health System,” said José Silva Nunes, President of the Portuguese Society for the Study of Obesity (SPEO) and spokesperson for Recalibrar a Balança. “The weight we carry as a society is not only that of excess pounds and their health consequences, but also that of inaction and the delay in implementing concrete decisions to address a disease that demands the same urgency as any other chronic condition. If not now, when? This is the moment to courageously implement a national integrated strategy that puts people at the center of the response.”
Recalibrar a Balança is a platform that unites representatives from the scientific community and individuals living with obesity in Portugal, with the aim of actively contributing to the development of public policies that promote the prevention and appropriate treatment of obesity, based on the latest scientific evidence. Founded in 2021 by the Portuguese Society for the Study of Obesity (SPEO), the Portuguese Association of People Living with Obesity (ADEXO), and the Portuguese Society of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism (SPEDM), the platform expanded its forum in 2025 to include other medical societies, recognizing the need for broad reflection and consensus-building on the interplay between obesity and other prevalent chronic diseases. The forum now includes the Portuguese Society of Cardiology (SPC), the Portuguese Society of Diabetology (SPD), the Portuguese Society of Obesity and Metabolic Surgery (SPCO), the Portuguese Society of Gastroenterology (SPG), the Portuguese Society of Pediatrics (SPP), the Portuguese Association of General and Family Medicine (APMGF), and the Portuguese Society of Internal Medicine (SPMI).
Currently, obesity affects approximately two million adults in Portugal, with an estimated economic impact of €4.18 billion annually – a figure projected to increase dramatically without a recent intervention paradigm.
More information is available at www.recalibrarabalanca.pt.
LPM
