Sherlyn Celone-Arnold and Ted Kyle

Obesity Care Week (March 2–6, 2026) begins today. This is a moment when advocates, clinicians, and people living with obesity unite around a simple but profound mission: to change the way society cares for – and about – obesity. But this year, let’s be honest about the scarcity of actual caring in obesity care. We can celebrate awareness, mobilize pledges, and post supportive messages – and still fall short of what people with obesity truly need: actual, consistent, everyday care that embodies compassion, respect, and clinical integrity.

Not only is it hard to access a high level of effective obesity care, it is even harder to find personal and professional connections where a caring relationship comes first. All of us have busy lives and health professionals face daunting time pressures. And then there is the corrosive influence of stigma.

An Ideal vs Reality

Too often, caring in healthcare is more of an ideal than reality. A compelling 2022 study of patient expectations found that the essence of “caring” isn’t flashy diagnostics or new treatments – it’s listening, responding, and following through. Yet these basics remain elusive for many persons seeking obesity care. What good is awareness if the health system doesn’t equip clinicians to listen without bias? What good is education if clinicians default to outdated beliefs that blame individuals rather than address biology, environment, and lived experience?

Genuine Commitment

Obesity Care Week invites us to Commit to Care – to support accessible, affordable, respectful, and compassionate care. That’s essential. But this year’s challenge must go further: stop settling for performative caring. Real care means tackling systemic failures in clinical practice, policy, and insurance coverage. It means addressing the pervasive weight bias that keeps patients from honest conversations and evidence-based treatment pathways. It means ensuring that care for obesity is expected – not exceptional.

Start with the Pledge and Follow Through

The mission of Obesity Care Week has always centered on respect for the complex science of obesity and on eliminating stigma that blocks access to effective treatment. But “caring” isn’t just a pledge; it’s something people should feel in every clinical interaction – in every office visit, benefit design, and public health policy. Let’s make caring the norm, not the exception. When obesity care lives up to its own ideals – scientifically sound and genuinely compassionate – then Obesity Care Week will have achieved its most important goal: a future where every person living with obesity is treated with the dignity and care they truly deserve.

Click here for more on Obesity Care Week and make the commitment for genuine caring.

Man and Woman in Café, painting by Pablo Picasso / WikiArt