The World Health Organization published its first guidelines for managing obesity in children and adolescents, setting out how health systems and health workers should deliver timely, evidence-based and person-centered care. Salud a Diario reported the release on Thursday, October 8, 2026.
The guidance arrives as obesity among young people has grown sharply. According to Salud a Diario, 170 million children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 were living with obesity in 2024 — 70 million of them aged 5 to 9 and 100 million aged 10 to 19. The prevalence in this age group has quadrupled since 1990, rising from 2 percent to 8 percent.
Why it matters
Obesity is a chronic, recurring disease that can be managed with effective care, and its consequences can begin early in life. Salud a Diario reports that it raises the risk of non-communicable diseases, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Children and adolescents living with obesity may also face stigma, discrimination and bullying at school.
Preventing and managing the condition is described as essential to protecting young people's physical and mental health and to supporting healthy growth, education, social well-being and quality of life. The guidelines also form part of a broader WHO response to the global obesity epidemic, which includes the agency's acceleration plan to stop obesity. Together with existing WHO recommendations for adults, they build a life-course approach to obesity care, covering management and treatment from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood.
What the guidelines recommend
For children and adolescents with obesity, the WHO strongly recommends structured interventions combining diet, physical activity and behavior change, delivered individually or as part of a multimodal program. Digital health interventions are recommended conditionally, with supervision from parents or caregivers.
The WHO does not recommend drug treatment, bariatric surgery — weight-loss surgery that alters the stomach or digestive tract — or weight-loss devices for children aged 0 to 9.
For adolescents aged 10 to 19, treatment with approved medications may be considered only when a supervised multimodal lifestyle program has failed to produce the desired results. Bariatric surgery may be considered under strict conditions for adolescents with severe obesity.
"The foundation of obesity care for children and adolescents is not medicine or surgery, but access to comprehensive support that enables healthy eating, physical activity and sustainable behavior change," said Dr. Luz María De Regil, director of the WHO Department of Nutrition and Food Safety.
"Our priority must be to ensure that every child and adolescent can access quality care and supportive environments from an early age, helping them achieve and maintain a healthy weight and laying the foundations for health and well-being throughout life."
Mental health and long-term care
Although not the main focus of the guidelines, the recommendations stress the importance of addressing mental health alongside obesity. According to Salud a Diario, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and emotional dysregulation can contribute to unhealthy eating behaviors, physical inactivity and social isolation, while children and adolescents living with obesity may experience stigma and bullying that harm their emotional well-being.
Health workers are urged to address obesity and mental health conditions early and together, using inclusive, developmentally appropriate strategies that involve the family.
The guidelines emphasize that obesity management should go beyond weight loss and aim to improve health, functioning and well-being. Care should be person-centered, suited to the person's age and responsive to the needs of each child and family, with long-term follow-up and continuity.
Treatment alone cannot reverse the rise in obesity, the WHO says. The agency continues to call for policies and measures that make healthy diets and physical activity more accessible and affordable, including regulatory and fiscal measures and action in education, urban planning, transport and social protection.
What to watch next: how national health systems translate the recommendations into practice, particularly the conditions under which medication and surgery may be considered for adolescents.
