WHO and FAO support Mauritius to address obesity through implementation of a 5-year roadmap

Port Louis ‒ World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) are supporting the Government of Mauritius to tackle obesity though the implementation of a 5-year ambitious Obesity Action Acceleration Roadmap 2025-2030, launched today.

Aligned with the World Health Assembly's extended 2030 global nutrition and noncommunicable disease (NCD) targets, the Obesity Action Acceleration Roadmap sets an ambitious goal of reducing obesity prevalence among Mauritians by 5% by 2030.

The obesity roadmap focuses on five strategic priorities, encompassing targeted prevention and management services at the primary health and community levels, promoting behaviour change, such as increased physical activity, healthy diets, limiting the marketing of unhealthy foods, and boosting local agriculture of healthy foods.

"This comprehensive strategy was developed in close consultation with key stakeholders across multiple sectors," said Dr Anil Kumar Bachoo, Minister of Health in Mauritius. "Together we can build a healthier Mauritius, where everyone can live a healthy life free from preventable diseases linked to obesity."

Mauritius is currently off track to meet global nutrition targets, with diets increasingly dominated by refined carbohydrates, sugars and ultra-processed foods. Data gaps, particularly for children under 5 years, and reliance on paper-based information systems continue to hinder effective monitoring.

To accelerate progress, the Government of Mauritius has already taken bold steps to curb obesity, including doubling taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages in June 2025, strengthening school health programmes and enforcing regulations on food sales in educational institutions. Measures such as price controls on healthier staple foods like wheat bread and improved nutrition information systems have also been introduced.

WHO has provided technical and financial support to the Ministry of Health in Mauritius for the development of obesity-related policy and strategy. The Organization also advocates for multisectoral activities aimed at progressively effecting behaviour change and a conducive environment for healthier and safer diets.

To address these, WHO has played a pivotal role in building capacity of health workers for strengthened child growth monitoring in Mauritius and Rodrigues in 2024. In addition, multisectoral stakeholders were empowered on behavioural insights for effective and efficient interventions.

"Let us work together: health, education, agriculture, commerce, finance, sports, civil society and the private sector to implement this strategy," said Dr Anne Ancia, WHO Representative in Mauritius. "Because the fight against obesity cannot be won by the Ministry of Health alone. It requires all of us."

Currently, one in three adults aged 25-74 years in Mauritius is living with obesity, placing a heavy burden on public health and contributing to soaring rates of NCDs. Nearly 70% of the national health budget is spent on managing NCDs.