GPs are calling for a COBRA-style emergency taskforce to be set up to tackle the rising epidemic of childhood obesity.
Health Leaders are warning that unless urgent action is taken now, an entire generation will be ‘destroyed’ by a diet of junk food and sugary drinks - and the NHS will be completely overwhelmed as a result.

In an open letter to the Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Dame Sally Davies - timed to coincide with the start of the new school term - the RCGP and 11 partner organisations are recommending that a national Child Obesity Action Group (COAG) be set up as a matter of urgency.

COAG will involve collaboration between doctors, nurses, midwives, dieticians, dentists and schools. It aims to balance existing prevention approaches with better obesity treatment services that will support children to make healthy lifestyle choices from a young age to prevent them from storing up health problems for later life.