CO-CREATE – “Confronting obesity: Co-creating policy with Youth” is a project funded for 5 years by the H2020 programme of the European Union. It gathers 14 research and advocacy groups in six European countries plus Australia, South Africa and the United States. The project aims to reduce the prevalence of obesity among adolescents in Europe through policy actions to promote a healthier food and physical activity environment.

A particular feature of CO-CREATE is that adolescents are not merely the object of an intervention designed by researchers, but are themselves agents for change, identifying required actions and collaborating to help achieve them. In this study, researchers and adolescents will work collaboratively to generate system maps depicting the major policy-modifiable factors affecting energy balance related behaviours in this age group. In addition to the workshops with adolescents, we will also conduct mapping workshops with policy-makers and academic experts from across Europe.

The WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (or COSI), is a unique system that for over 10 years has measured trends in overweight and obesity among primary school aged children. COSI involves taking standardized weight and height measurements from over 300 000 children across the WHO European Region, providing nationally representative data for participating countries, as well as a large Region-wide data set for analysis of the determinants of childhood overweight and obesity. This vital collaboration between WHO/Europe and research institutions from across the Region provides high-quality data to inform policy and practice to respond to the problem of childhood overweight and obesity.

Over 40 Member States of the Region will participate in the fifth round of COSI during the 2018–2019 school year.

The MUN-SI programme arises closer to each municipality needs and local policies, and intends to offer a proactive and interactive response to the problem of childhood obesity, seeking its prevention at municipality level based on continuous and sustainable actions developed during 1-4 years’ periods.

The main aim is to slow the progression of the prevalence of overweight and childhood obesity in Portugalthrough a set of activities in which local environments mobilize the community to the adoption of healthy lifestyles. It also intends to reach the National Health Plan on the obesity prevention, developing healthy local policies throughout decision makers and activities directed to local participants (family, school, environment ), mostly on healthy eating habits and physical activity promotion.

Over a four-year period (2018-21), the STOP project will generate scientifically sound, novel and policy-relevant evidence on the factors that have contributed to the spread of childhood obesity in European countries and on the effects of alternative technological and organisational solutions and policy options available to address the problem.

STOP will adopt a life course and intergenerational perspective, assessing the role of determinants of childhood obesity before birth and in the earliest years of life, as well as the role of parenting and parental lifestyles, and the long-term links between childhood obesity, adult obesity and disease throughout the life course. STOP will emphasise the environmental dimension of childhood obesity, recognising the role of different environments surrounding children as major contributors to obesity, and the diverse characterisations of obesity, with a special emphasis on those associated with the most detrimental outcomes in vulnerable and socially disadvantaged children.