ECPO welcomes France’s move towards reimbursement of evidence-based obesity treatment and calls on other European countries to follow suit.
The European Coalition for People Living with Obesity (ECPO) warmly congratulates France on this important milestone for people living with obesity.
We would like to recognise the leadership and dedication of French patient advocates, particularly Anne-Sophie Joly, Founder and President of the Collectif National des Associations d’Obèses (CNAO), and Alina Constantin, ECPO Country Representative for France, whose longstanding commitment to obesity advocacy has helped advance recognition, understanding, and patient-centred care.
For people living with obesity, this development represents far more than a reimbursement decision. It is an important acknowledgement that obesity is a chronic, relapsing disease and that people living with obesity deserve equitable access to evidence-based treatment and care.
For many years, people living with obesity have faced stigma, misconceptions, delayed diagnosis, limited treatment options, and significant barriers to care. Too often, access to treatment has depended on an individual’s ability to pay rather than their healthcare needs.
France’s decision sends a powerful message that obesity should be treated like other chronic diseases and that people living with obesity deserve access to the full range of evidence-based care.
A Positive Signal for Europe
Across Europe, millions of people are living with obesity and many continue to face significant challenges accessing appropriate treatment and support.
France’s leadership demonstrates that progress is possible when healthcare systems recognise obesity as a chronic disease and place patients at the centre of decision-making.
ECPO encourages other European Member States to carefully consider how access to obesity treatment can be expanded within their own healthcare systems.
Recognising the Realities
We understand that governments face difficult decisions.
Healthcare budgets are under pressure. Specialist obesity services remain limited in many countries. Reimbursement systems are designed to ensure sustainability and responsible use of public resources.
These are legitimate considerations.
However, from a patient perspective, the conversation cannot stop at costs alone.
People living with obesity experience daily impacts on their physical health, mental wellbeing, quality of life, mobility, participation in society, and overall health outcomes. Delayed access to appropriate care often results in progression of disease and the development of additional health complications.
The question should therefore not be whether people living with obesity deserve access to treatment, but how healthcare systems can provide access in a fair, sustainable, and equitable way.
Comprehensive Care Matters
ECPO continues to emphasise that obesity care extends far beyond medication alone.
People living with obesity deserve access to comprehensive, multidisciplinary care that may include prevention, nutritional support, behavioural interventions, psychological support, physical activity programmes, medical treatment, and long-term follow-up.
Patient-centred care means ensuring that individuals can access the treatment options that are most appropriate for their circumstances and health needs.
A Call to Action
France has demonstrated that meaningful progress is possible.
ECPO calls on policymakers, health authorities, healthcare professionals, and decision-makers across Europe to work alongside patient organisations and people living with obesity to develop sustainable and equitable pathways to care.
The challenges are real, but so too are the consequences of leaving obesity untreated and under-recognised.
People living with obesity have waited long enough to be seen, heard, and supported.
Today, we congratulate France, Anne-Sophie Joly, Alina Constantin, the French patient community, healthcare professionals, and policymakers who have contributed to this important step forward.
We hope this marks the beginning of a broader movement across Europe towards equitable, evidence-based, and compassionate obesity care for all.
ECPO President, Diana Castillo, said:
France has taken a landmark step forward for people living with obesity. Reimbursing weight management treatments is not an administrative detail: it is the formal recognition that obesity is a chronic, multifactorial and progressive disease, and that those living with it deserve adequate care with the same dignity and priority afforded to any other health condition.
For too long, we have fought not only against the disease itself, but against stigma, bias and a system that has too often left us alone. We have had to justify our suffering, prove that we deserve support, and wait until we were sick enough for someone to truly listen. Access to care cannot depend on how much you earn, where you live, or how advanced your condition already is. This is not equity. This is abandonment.
We call on every European healthcare system to place obesity among its core priorities, with the same institutional commitment and seriousness dedicated to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions. Because failing to act carries a human, social and economic cost that no healthcare budget can afford to ignore.