Obesità e Povertà: il futuro dell’educazione alla salute- Obesity and Poverty: the future of health education

This paper offers a critical reflection on obesity, with particular attention to childhood obesity, as a complex phenomenon that intersects biological, social, cultural and economic dimensions, questioning the role and future of health education in the Italian context. Drawing on the integrated interpretation of national and international secondary data and on dialogue with interdisciplinary literature, the contribution examines how the risks of overweight and obesity are unevenly distributed across the population, along lines of vulnerability related to education, economic conditions, gender and territory. The evidence discussed shows that childhood obesity emerges early as the outcome of cumulative disadvantage and educational poverty transmitted across generations, rather than as the simple result of individual behaviours. The paper highlights the limitations of prevention strategies primarily based on information dissemination and health literacy, arguing for the need to strengthen health education as a structured, continuous and socially situated educational process. Health education is thus reframed as a future-oriented collective investment, capable of acting on living environments, competencies and concrete health opportunities, contributing both to the early prevention of obesity and to the reduction of the associated risks and inequalities.