Biden to host conference addressing hunger, diet diseases

President Joe Biden will hold a White House conference on Sept. 28 to address efforts to end diet related health conditions such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

“Lack of access to healthy and affordable foods is one of many factors impacting hunger and diet-related diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these challenges further,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday, according to the Washington Times.

“We will announce a national strategy at the conference that identifies actions the government will take to catalyze the public and private sectors to drive transformative change and address the intersections between food, hunger, nutrition, and health," she continued.

Obesity and related conditions were prominent comorbidities with COVID-19 amid the pandemic. A study from the World Obesity Foundation found in March of 2021 that countries with high levels of obesity were experiencing fatalities at levels 10 times greater than those with lower rates. Moreover, 90% of COVID-19 deaths up to that point had occurred in countries wherein at least half of the population was overweight. Roughly 69.7% of adult Americans are overweight to some degree.

President Biden originally announced his intention to host this summit back in May.