Health4EUKIDS - Implementation of best practices and research results on prevention of non-communicable diseases and risk factors

Childhood obesity is considered a pandemic. Children living in vulnerable neighborhoods in high income countries are unequally exposed to contributing factors in the environment compared to their peers. Research has shown that those neighborhoods are often food swamps (places that have an excess of unhealthy sale points compared to healthy sale points)and the options for physical activity are limited. It is now widely recognised that childhood obesity is not merely the responsibility of the individual, but that the environment also plays a crucial role in the development of this disease.

Community-based participatory approaches that bring together all stakeholders in the community are therefore considered a valid approach in tackling this growing epidemic. Using the Best Practice ‘Grünau Moves’ as an example, Sciensano, together with other European partners, aims at bringing together local governments, local stakeholders, parents and children to work together on a situation analysis of a vulnerable neighborhood, and develop together an intervention/interventions that give children more possibilities to be physically active and/or eat healthier. We use participatory methods such as focus groups, group model building, go-along interviews and Photovoice to design a structural intervention that is ideally suited to target the needs of the specific neighborhood. By using additional interviews and observational methods, we hope to see an increase in time children spent being physically active and/or a shift in food consumption to better and healthier alternatives.