So far, no country has been able to reverse the rising obesity rates — including the United States, which has been battling it for years now.

One reason for the difficulty may be that the problem requires a different approach than using a medication to treat an illness.

“We have to find some way to reduce the consumption of processed, high-fat foods, and get people to eat more fruits, vegetables, and non-sugary foods,” Thorpe told Healthline.

Researchers are working on figuring out the best ways to make this happen — with some progress in this area.

In the United States, the Medicare-funded Diabetes Prevention Program is a six-month intensive lifestyle program for older adults at risk of developing diabetes.

The program focuses on helping people eat healthier, become more active, and maintain a healthy weight — which is good for preventing many chronic illnesses.

Research has found that this kind of intervention can reduce the number of new cases of diabetes by as much as 58 percent.

These programs are also “easily adaptable to a whole host of other countries,” said Thorpe, and have already been tested in the United States, Finland, China and India.

Thorpe said that some companies in the United States are also nudging employees toward healthier food choices by subsidizing foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean sources of protein.

But will it work in other countries?

“It’s something a country like Mexico could do,” said Thorpe.

With 32 percent of its adult population obese, Mexico’s rate is second only to the United States.

However, in order for programs like this to work, Thorpe said they have to be “part of a national strategy on health reform.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) agrees. In a report on approaches to childhood obesity prevention, the WHO writes that community-based interventions need to be supported by appropriate government structures and policies.

This includes things like dedicated funding for obesity interventions, “sugar taxes” to encourage people to cut back on sugar-sweetened beverages, and education campaigns that help people make healthier choices.

Many experts think that it’s also time to stop blaming people because factors out of their control contribute to weight gain and difficulty shedding the pounds.

“We’re continuing to see rises,” said Lee. “The issue is that until everyone recognizes that these are systems problems — and not individual people problems — then the rises will continue.”