ABSTRACT
This chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book. Obesity is a chronic disease, and healthcare providers need to start looking at it as such. That is the first step. It then clarifies for the reader that this problem of obesity is massive and omnipresent. A health condition that was not on the map a century ago is now front and center. This chapter also shows that it does not matter what part of the world you are in, obesity is a major disease affecting the lives of millions of people, and the future does not look any better either. Hence the call-to-action for health providers to engage themselves in combating this disease now by understanding what the science says and applying it.
