The World Health Organization (WHO) today released its first guidelines addressing the sharp rise in obesity among children and adolescents, setting out how health systems and health workers can deliver timely, evidence-based and people-centred care.
In 2024, 170 million children and adolescents aged 5–19 years were living with obesity, including 70 million children aged 5–9 years and 100 million adolescents aged 10–19 years. Obesity prevalence in this age group has quadrupled since 1990, rising from 2% to 8%.
Obesity is a chronic, relapsing disease that can be managed with effective care. Its consequences can begin early in life, increasing the risk of noncommunicable diseases, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Children and adolescents living with obesity may also experience stigma, discrimination and bullying.
Preventing and managing obesity is essential to protect the physical and mental health of children and adolescents and support their healthy growth, education, social well-being and quality of life.
For children and adolescents with obesity, WHO strongly recommends structured dietary, physical activity and behaviour-changing interventions delivered individually or as part of a multimodal programme.
Digital health interventions are conditionally recommended with parent or caregiver supervision.
The guidelines stress that obesity management should go beyond weight loss and aim to improve health, functioning and well-being.
Meanwhile, the Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is robbing children of their loved ones – with some succumbing to the deadly disease themselves, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported on Tuesday.
The update comes as regional neighbour Kenya confirmed its first case and death from the disease, believed to have come from DRC.
More than 1,900 boys and girls have either lost one or both parents, or their caregivers, since the outbreak was declared in May, or have been separated from them.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) is monitoring the situation in Kenya, which on Tuesday confirmed its first case and fatality, according to media reports.
Kenya confirms first imported Bundibugyo virus disease case. Following the confirmation by Kenyan authorities of the country’s first imported case of Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD), the World Health Organization (WHO) is working closely with the Government of Kenya to intensify key control measures to prevent further spread of the virus.
The government is strengthening its response coordination and case investigation, while monitoring and listing contacts for enhanced disease surveillance.These measures are rapidly being deployed to ensure the identification of cases and help contain further transmission.
The Government of Kenya notified WHO of the case in line with the International Health Regulations (2005) on 6 October 2026. Kenya is the fourth country to confirm BVD. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is responding to an ongoing BVD outbreak, while Uganda, where the Bundibugyo virus species was first detected in 2007, ended the latest outbreak in August 2026. Most cases in Uganda were imported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
WHO has also delivered about 1000 Ebola tests and 1000 personal protective equipment kits to high-risk counties in Kenya.
As of 2 October 2026, 959 deaths and 4,207 injuries have been reported from 10 governorates in Yemen, according to the Ministry of Health and Population.
