interview
Spanou believes that initiatives should focus not just on making people healthier, but on making life better all round
and that brings together the umbrella associations of the food industry, the medical profession, the fi tness industry and so on – EHFA, for example, represents the European fi tness industry on the Platform. Those umbrella associations are then responsible for representing the national organisations within their sectors.”
parallel action She continues: “The aim of the Platform is to challenge the various stakeholders to bring in voluntary actions that will help tackle the obesity crisis. Indeed, to be on the Platform, organisations need to have ongoing active commitments – the actions we require. As far as possible, these should be co-ordinated actions across Europe, rather than being specific to just one area or country. At the very least, they should offer best practice that can be replicated elsewhere. “We have funding available to support
projects on a co-funded basis. And being on the Platform also gives organisations the credibility that they’re trying to do something about the obesity problem. “Running alongside this process, we
also have the High Level Group on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, which is the government-level equivalent of the Platform. This brings together national authorities, who also propose strategies and actions at a national level to tackle obesity – strategies for healthy eating, physical activity and so on. “So these are the two parallel
processes, the two groups – governments and stakeholders – that bring forward the actions to implement the strategies we have at European Union level.”
the role of fitness So how can the fitness industry get involved in the delivery of this strategy?
“If someone has an idea of an action, they should approach their national body
– the FIA in the UK, for example – who can in turn refer to EHFA to bring the idea to the Platform,” explains Spanou.
“EHFA will be aware of all the criteria for acceptance of commitments, and the detail of the European objectives, and will – along with the European Commission itself – be able to advise on the content of commitments.” But in a nutshell, what constitutes a
Platform-worthy commitment? “Key among the criteria for acceptance is the need to provide measurable outcomes. Any action is good, but we have to focus on projects that can prove delivery against our EU-level strategic objectives – increasing levels of physical activity, for example. “Change4Life in the UK is a good
example – it has a number of actions that have been created as part of the European strategy. These include, for example, offering dance classes in schools with the aim of creating a joy of moving among children that goes beyond the usual physical activity and physical education classes they have at school.” She continues: “Where possible, as
I mentioned before, we also like to implement co-ordinated actions, with
“IF SOMEONE HAS AN IDEA OF AN ACTION, THEY SHOULD APPROACH THEIR NATIONAL BODY – THE FIA IN THE UK, FOR EXAMPLE”
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a lot of different stakeholders working together; the biggest impact can often be gained by working across sectors rather than doing projects that only focus on healthy eating or on physical activity. “For example, one of our most
prominent projects has already rolled out across four countries. It started in France and was then extended to Belgium, the Netherlands and Greece – all very different countries. The programme – called EPODE (Ensemble Prévenons L’Obésité des Enfants) – targeted children and aimed to address both healthy eating and physical activity. “Financing came from a number of
different channels, including the food industry and the European Commission. Then there were universities in each country that provided the research and monitoring. The universities also created the programme in the fi rst place, which aimed to curb obesity trends among children by offering healthy eating initiatives at school and creating more physical activity options in the community. The town mayors were then in charge of implementing that programme, so the local community was also involved. “In the two towns where the
programme ran in northern France, obesity trends actually started going down. This has become a programme that we’re now exporting throughout the world. We’ve created something that anybody can implement in
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