Obesity

Health4EUkids: the role of the Italian National Institute of Health and the work on WP4

The National Centre for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion of the Italian Institute of Health is participating in the Joint Action (JA) Health4EUkids by coordinating Work Package 4 (WP4) on "Transferability and Sustainability." The primary goal is to focus on governance and systems, addressing health and equity across all policies at local, regional, national, and community levels, considering society as a whole.

The first objective achieved by the Italian working group within the JA (Task 4.1) was to conduct a review of the results and recommendations from previous European initiatives, including projects and JAs targeting children aged 0 to 12 years, with particular attention to initiatives combating overweight and obesity. This review was conducted between February and August 2023. The analysis began during the "Kick-off meeting" held in Athens on February 9, 2023, where the participatory World Café methodology was used to identify European initiatives that could meet the objective, with contributions from all partners. Participants in the World Café were asked three questions to stimulate reflection:

1. What experiences from other European projects could contribute to the task's activities?
2. What key elements, methodologies, and content should be considered?
3. What other suggestions and ideas?

In the following months, further projects, meeting the inclusion criteria, were identified. This effort led to the selection and analysis of 11 projects related to promoting children's health and responsive parenting, with particular attention to healthy lifestyles and elements of transferability, scalability, and sustainability. The identified initiatives focused on areas such as obesity/overweight, inequalities, nutrition, public policies, physical activity, and breastfeeding. The main targets identified were policymakers and local authorities, the general population (including families and children), and healthcare professionals. The intervention settings identified included the community, kindergartens, schools, and healthcare services.

Guiding Criteria: A Framework for Action

The final product of the task is a conclusive report, highlighting a set of criteria derived from the conclusions and lessons learned from previous initiatives to support the implementation of best practices, and reflecting the need to address obesity and overweight comprehensively. From the examination of available documentation of the selected projects, the emerging elements were synthesized into four explanatory macro-areas, each divided into subcategories:

• “Recommendation”, includes conclusions, lessons learned, and knowledge gathered, produced, and disseminated by the projects
• “Policy”, refers to agreements, declarations, or alliances born from the implementation of the projects
• “Sustainability”, highlights factors that provide support for the sustainability of best practices or the use of produced tools beyond the mandate of the individual implemented project
• “Transferability/Scalability”, defines essential steps in the implementation strategy that must be considered in transferring or scaling up a best practice

The main identified areas suggest maximum attention and commitment at the policy level, the construction of databases of best practices, the building of networks and intersectoral involvement, communication and education interventions, addressing research gaps, and health equity.

These results provide a useful framework to inform and guide future initiatives aimed at reducing the prevalence of childhood obesity and promoting a healthy lifestyle in European societies.

WP4: the Lisbon workshop (November 2024)

On 12 November 2024, during the 17th European Public Health Conference in Lisbon, a workshop was held on “Transferability and Sustainability of Best Practices in Health promotion and childhood obesity prevention across Europe: sharing experiences from different EU Joint Actions”. The workshop, organised by the ISS as coordinator of WP4 of the JA Health4EUkids, aimed to contribute to how previous and current initiatives, policies and existing tools at European level can support Member States in health promotion and childhood obesity prevention.

WP4: the Rome workshop (March 2025)

On 27 and 28 March 2025, the second face-to-face meeting of WP4 of the European Health4EUKids project took place at the ISS in Rome. The event was a crucial moment to take stock of the project's progress and define strategies to ensure its sustainability and transferability at European level.