The project is to assess the level of consumption of fruit and vegetables in school children and their parents and to develop effective strategies to promote adequate consumption levels among school children.
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The project aims to trigger discussion on the role physical activity and nutrition play in the prevention of non-communicable diseases. The objective is to ensure continuity of discussion on this topic by passing it ‘as a baton’ from one EU presidency to another.
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The general objective of the ENHR II project is to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date report on the nutrition and health situation in Europe that focuses on unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use and harmful alcohol consumption.
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In all EU Member states (MS), the high level of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents is of particular concern. In the EU, around 1 in 3 children 6-9 years old were overweight or obese in 2010, a sharp rise in prevalence despite numerous MS or EU initiatives.Physical inactivity and poor diet from birth (and even in utero) are important determinants of adiposity leading to overweight and obesity. They are also independently associated with various non-communicable disease risk factors leading to the main pathologies European populations are suffering from, including detrimental psychosocial outcomes. Overweight and obesity represent an economic burden with up to 7% of EU health budgets spent each year directly on diseases linked to obesity, with more indirect costs resulting from lost productivity. Nutritional problems and physical inactivity need to be addressed in an integrated way so as to promote healthier environments, to make the healthy option the easiest option and to inform and empower families.Within the general frame of the EU Action plan on childhood obesity 2014-2020, the JA’s general objective is to contribute to halting the rise in overweight and obesity in children and adolescents by 2020. Through the, identification, selection and sharing of best data and practices within the 25 countries involved, the JA will allow for : to advocate based on an estimation and forecast of economic cost of overweight and obesity; to improve the implementation of integrated interventions to promote nutrition and physical activity for pregnant women, families with young children; to improve actions within school settings; and to increase the use of nutritional information on foods by public health authorities, stakeholders and families for nutrition policy purposes. The JA will reinforce the links between national nutrition and physical activity policies initiated by the EU Strategy on nutrition, overweight and obesity-related health issues.
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EPHE will build on the EPODE methodology (a capacity building approach) and on the outcomes from the EEN Book of Recommendations to create synergies within the EU research framework programme and to favor multiplier effects and sustainability.EPHE aims to analyse from 2012 to 2015: 1)the added value of the implementation of an adapted EPODE methodology for the reduction of socioeconomic inequalities in health-related diet and physical activity behaviours of families with children aged 6 to 12 living in 7 different European communities; as a priority where premature mortality exceeds 20% of the EU average and with different socioeconomic profiles. 2)opportunities to sustain the implementation of EPHE best practices in other EU regions and Member States (MS) via EU structural funds focusing on the replicability and transferability at a larger scale of those to leverage the experience to develop action plans by MS and to make use of structural funds for the promotion of health equity.
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