Given the health, social, and economic burden of obesity, comprehensive healthcare management is crucial to addressing overweight and obesity. Yet, strategies often prioritise obesity as a risk factor rather than as a disease, resulting in fragmented approaches. Therefore, effective solutions require combining population-level strategies with actions within health systems to balance prevention and treatment, including the capacity-building of health professionals with adequate human and scientific competencies and tools to interact with patients with overweight or obesity, leaving no one behind. Evidence to inform policy decision-makers and to design tailored interventions and guidelines when treating people with overweight or obesity in primary care is needed.
Therefore, the BRIDGE project seeks to generate up-to-date evidence on obesity management practices in primary healthcare (PHC) settings. It also aims to implement co-designed interventions targeting people living with obesity, healthcare professionals, and the general population, to enhance access to a more effective and equitable obesity care model. The specific objectives include: 1) costs and effectiveness analyses of obesity management in PHC; 2) mixed-method approaches for exploring access and delivery of obesity care in PHC, though the perspectives of both health professionals and people living with obesity; 3) the analysis of societal narratives around people living with obesity; and 4) multi-level interventions for obesity management in PHC.
The main beneficiaries of the BRIDGE project are the general public and people living with obesity, along with the relevant health professionals, health services, civil society organisations, and policymakers. Evidence will be generated to improve processes and policies regarding obesity management in the PHC context, with the active involvement of multisectoral stakeholders in the identification of best practices, and shedding light on the importance of breaking organisational and structural barriers that limit access to healthcare by individuals with obesity. BRIDGE is expected to contribute to scientific progress in the health field and also to improve policies and guidelines by tailoring solutions to specific needs identified through this inclusive and holistic process.
