In a society where more than half of adults are overweight or obese, obesity is more widely understood not simply as a lifestyle issue for Taiwanese, but as a chronic disease with implications for public health, healthcare sustainability, and workforce productivity.

“For us, it’s not so much a matter of belief anymore,” says Hans Duijf, general manager of Novo Nordisk Taiwan. “Increasingly, the evidence clearly indicates that the downstream health burden of obesity is enormous.”

Scientific understanding of obesity has evolved significantly in recent years. Research links obesity to cardiometabolic disease and to inflammation-related conditions, including certain cancers. At the same time, advances in biology and metabolic science have reshaped understanding of why sustained weight loss is often difficult to achieve.

“We know now for a fact that your body will fight when you lose weight,” Duijf says. “Willpower alone is just very difficult to overcome that challenge. People need help with it.”

Taiwan’s “Healthy Taiwan” initiative and chronic disease programs such as the “888” Program reflect growing attention toward prevention and disease management. Duijf notes that obesity management may benefit from a comprehensive approach that includes prevention, lifestyle support, and appropriate medical care under professional supervision.

Historically, obesity has often been framed as a matter of personal responsibility centered around diet and exercise. While lifestyle changes remain important, Duijf argues that the scale and persistence of obesity-related disease indicate broader approaches are necessary.

He also points to adolescent obesity as an area where earlier intervention could have a significant long-term health impact, given the cumulative risks associated with chronic metabolic disease over a lifetime.

“If you really want to change obesity and the global health burden of it, you need to do a little bit more than just advise people to live more healthfully,” he says.

In Taiwan, population aging and declining birth rates are placing greater attention on how to extend healthy working years and maintain workforce productivity. Obesity and metabolic diseases continue to affect absenteeism, long-term health costs, and quality of life during peak working years.

“Anything that can be done to maintain a productive workforce is important,” Duijf says. “Longevity and longer years of health are super critical components of that.”

Novo Nordisk Taiwan has introduced internal employee support initiatives focused on obesity and long-term health management, combining wellness activities with treatment support programs focused on earlier intervention and long-term health. “If this is really something that we believe in, we also need to offer it to our own employees,” Duijf says.

The company’s work extends beyond treatment itself into disease awareness, public education, screening initiatives, and collaboration with healthcare organizations and policymakers.

“Neither us, nor a ministry, nor a hospital can fix this on their own,” Duijf says. “There is definitely a need to collaborate and bring different parties together.”

One area of focus has been metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), a serious liver disease closely associated with obesity and diabetes. Novo Nordisk has supported efforts to increase awareness of the disease as well as expand screening programs for earlier risk identification and follow-up care before conditions progress.

Taiwan’s annual health examinations and advanced electronic health record systems create opportunities for earlier detection and more proactive intervention. Recent advances in GLP-1 therapies have accelerated discussion surrounding obesity treatment and long-term metabolic health.

“It’s incredible how overwhelming the evidence is around the positive impact of GLP-1 on a broad number of cardiometabolic diseases and organs,” he says.

Duijf adds that improving access involves discussions surrounding telemedicine, supervised digital consultations, and physician-guided prescribing models that could reduce barriers to treatment while maintaining appropriate clinical oversight.

Taiwan’s strong healthcare infrastructure provides an important found-ation, says Duijf, while continued dialogue may help support timely access to innovation within appropriate regulatory and clinical frameworks.