European initiative launched to combat adolescent obesity

A group of 14 research and advocacy organisations have today launched a project to tackle obesity among young people in Europe.

Supported by the European Commission, the initiative is called Co-Create and will have a budget of at least €9.5 million to fund a programme of activities over the next five years.

Co-Create aims to involve and empower adolescents and youth organisations to foster a process of formulating policies and assess the options with other private and public actors.

Co-Create partner organisations include university research departments, national public health institutions and a number of civil society organisations concerned with health policies and youth well-being.

Organisations which have signed up include the World Obesity Federation, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The project will build on existing initiatives and platforms and construct new opportunities for youth engagement in the issue and youth participation in democratic moves for advocacy and policy change.

Project leader Knut-Inge Klepp, of the Norwegian Institute for Public Health, said: “We have access to large-scale datasets and policy monitoring tools, and will combine these with novel analytical approaches and youth involvement to provide new efficient strategies, tools and programmes for promoting sustainable and healthy behaviours.

“The generated knowledge and innovative tools for assessing policy implementation, along with strategies for empowering adolescents, will help ensure that the policy proposals arising from this project will be effective and popular.”

The Co-Create Project has received funding from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research budget, shared between 14 research groups in six European countries, plus Australia, South Africa and the US. The project will be completed in 2023.