Publish date: 14 October 2022
People across Cheshire and Merseyside are being asked to take part in a wide-ranging survey to find out their opinions and ideas about obesity.
Cheshire & Merseyside Cancer Alliance is working with Health Equalities Group – parent charity for healthy weight programme Food Active – on a project to lower people’s excess weight, as it is one of the main modifiable risk factors for cancer.
The Strategic Overweight and Obesity Project will establish a network of individuals and organisations that will create awareness campaigns to improve people’s knowledge of the risks of excess weight and help them change their lifestyle to improve their health.
Obesity is already the second largest modifiable risk factor for cancer and is of increasing concern in the UK where the obesity rate is one of the highest in Europe. In the UK, 27% of the adult population are living with obesity and 41% of certain types of cancer being attributed to obesity.
Now, Food Active is asking people to give their views on obesity as part of a gathering of information on the subject, ahead of designing the Project’s programmes.
Matthew Philpott, Executive Director, Health Equalities Group, said: “After the successful launch of a new network addressing overweight and obesity across Cheshire and Merseyside in July this year, we are now looking to engage the general public through a brief survey to gain a better understanding of knowledge and attitudes concerning obesity, plus the association between obesity and cancer.
“The survey takes 12 minutes to complete, and we are hoping for a strong response from the public as we know that consultation across the region is vital in the co-design of public health prevention programmes.”
The survey is open until 25th November, 2022. None of data collected will be made publicly available and will remain anonymous. To take part, click here.