The First International World Obesity Day Congress was held on March 3–5, 2021 in an online format. The event involved physicians from 27 countries and amassed more than 11,400 views and 15,000 comments in real time.

Six online telebridges with different cities, including Vienna (Austria), were held during the Congress. 97 speakers delivered their reports. Workshops took place in five virtual rooms. The initiative for a multidisciplinary event was supported by more than 20 research centers, academies, and institutes.

The All-Russian Conference “Women’s Health and Obesity,” organized by the Russian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, was held on 3 March as the part of the Congress. The speakers’ reports covered a wide range of topics pertinent to the effects of obesity on women’s health in different periods of life, including the following: development of reproductive function in adolescent girls; menstrual disorders of varying severity, including amenorrhea; reduced fertility; infertility; interconnected pathogenic factors in infertility in obese women and women with polycystic ovary syndrome; complicated pregnancy and labor; pathogenesis of metabolic disorders that develop during the menopause transition and are associated with changes in hormone levels; approaches to the diagnosis and prevention of obesity; approaches to pre-conception care and pregnancy management in obese women to achieve better pregnancy outcomes; and a concept for managing obesity in women. Other topics included the effect of obesity on reproductive and sexual functions in men and ways to improve complications.

On 4 and 5 March the program of the Congress attracted participants from over 70 professional 70 fields of medicine, including endocrinology, gastroenterology, dietetics, cardiology, neurology, pediatrics, psychiatry, rheumatology, internal medicine, and surgery. A special attention was devoted to bioethics and ethics of obesity. Discussions covered various issues, including the pathogenesis of metabolic disorders; the relationship between obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus; comorbidities (cardiovascular disorders, gastrointestinal diseases, metabolic syndrome, etc.); the effects of obesity on patients' prognosis and quality of life; the effects of obesity on men’s health; prevention of obesity in children and adolescents; surgical treatment of obesity and diabetes mellitus compared with conservative therapy for these disorders.
Among the other topics discussed were the latest approaches to obesity therapy, including lifestyle modifications; diagnostic algorithms; the principles and advantages of motivational counselling for obese patients and patients with impaired carbohydrate metabolism; ways of achieving effective communication between patients and healthcare workers; surgical approaches to obesity (bariatric surgery); management of postoperative patients; and current approaches, including the use of online support technologies, to treating overweight and obesity in patients with cardiovascular disorders.

Based on the work of the Congress, the following decisions have been proposed:

1. To recognize the relevance of the Congress’s theme and the theoretical and practical issues discussed in the workshops, which were aimed at improving the understanding of obesity, and to acknowledge the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to the management of obese patients and of improving their quality of life.
2. To raise attention to bioethics and ethical aspects of obesity as a global problem;
3. To consolidate the efforts of professionals and raise awareness about obesity in the community of doctors.
4. To support the initiative of holding the Obesity Congress once or twice a year.
5. To acknowledge that the conclusions reached at the Congress are applicable in the areas of healthcare, education, and social welfare.
6. To utilize successful experience, including international experience, with the clinical use of various diagnostic, treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation methods for obese patients with comorbid disorders (cardiovascular disorders, gastrointestinal diseases, metabolic syndrome, etc.).
7. To translate into clinical practice the results of Russian research on the management of obese patients, including data on changes in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism in children with cholelithiasis, cholesterolosis of the gallbladder, or metabolic syndrome, as well as the findings of studies that focused on assessing clinical manifestations in obese children and adolescents with gastrointestinal disorders.
8. To make use, when treating patients, of information about pharmacological treatment for obesity complicated by cardiovascular and/or metabolic disorders, including evidence of the negative cardiovascular effects of particular medications.
9. To recognize that there is an urgent problem of poor access to surgical (bariatric) treatment for obese patients receiving treatment under government guarantee programs.
10. To make use, when choosing treatment strategies, of the latest data on negative interactions of obesity and COVID-19 infection, affecting the cardiovascular systems.
11. To consolidate the efforts of the medical community for reducing the incidence of obesity and preventing its socioeconomic and medical consequences.
12. To draw up proposals for inclusion in the federal obesity prevention and treatment program.
13. To publish the final version of the Congress resolution on the website worldobesitydayrussia.ru.

Program Committee as of 3 March:
G.T. Sukhikh, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS); S.V. Yureneva, Doctor of Medical Sciences; I.I. Baranov, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor; M.I. Yarmolinskaya, RAS Professor, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor; Z.S. Khodzhaeva, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor.

Program Committee as of 4 and 5 March:
A.S. Ametov, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Chairman of the Program Committee; M.B. Antsiferov, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor; G.P. Arutyunov, RAS Corresponding Member; E.Z. Golukhova, RAS Academician; O.M. Drapkina, RAS Corresponding Member; A.A. Kamalov, RAS Academician; A.M. Lila, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor; N.G. Mokrysheva, RAS Corresponding Member; L.K. Moshetova, RAS Academician; A.E. Neimark, Candidate of Medical Sciences, Assistant Professor; D.B. Nikityuk, RAS Corresponding Member; V.A. Peterkova, RAS Academician; I.V. Poddubnaya, RAS Academician; Yu.N. Sayamov, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Professor; D.A. Sychev, RAS Corresponding Member; V.A. Tutelian, RAS Academician; Yu.Sh. Khalimov, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor; A.G. Chuchalin, RAS Academician; A.V. Shabunin, RAS Corresponding Member.

A.S. Ametov, Chairman of the Program Committee of the World Obesity Day Congress