By Ursula O'Dwyer, Health Promotion Policy Adviser, Health Promotion Policy, Department of Health Ireland
We have reason to celebrate and we warmly welcome the 20 June Council Conclusions on Nutrition and Physical Activity as a sign that we are getting increasingly serious about an increasingly serious problem: more than half of European adults are overweight or obese, children are dangerously overtaking their parents and too many elderly suffer from malnutrition.
It is indisputable that unhealthy lifestyles have major impacts on the lives of citizens, on national healthcare budgets and on European competitiveness, so there can be no doubt that the problem deserves not only our full attention, but our full commitment to action.
That is why we are delighted that the Conclusions are in line with and support the Action Plan on Childhood Obesity which was agreed by Member States representatives and will support their voluntary actions aiming to halt the rise of childhood obesity by 2020.
Both documents invite Member States and the Commission to support good habits from an early age, promote healthier environments, make the healthy option the easiest option and reduce the exposure of children to marketing of foods high in saturated fat, added sugars and salt. They also invite the empowering of families, the promotion of physical activity and the scaling up of successful initiatives to improve diet and physical activity and to prevent elderly malnutrition.
Further action is being taken: a monitoring mechanism for the Action Plan on Childhood Obesity is being planned in collaboration with the WHO; a Joint Action supported by the EU Health Programme will support good practices sharing and the development of tools from 2015 onwards, and the Active and Healthy Ageing European Innovation Partnership is being disseminated.
By putting everything into place, we've done the equivalent of buying a gym membership. But no one ever got fit by just becoming a gym member – they have to actually use it. We now need to act on our good intentions and demand greater efforts from all our stakeholders. As a personal trainer might say, 'Come on! We can do it!' The goal is truly worth the effort.
