by Guntis Belēvičs, Minister for Health of the Republic of Latvia

Next week, I will have the pleasure of hosting the Conference on healthy lifestyles in Riga, organized under the Latvian Presidency. This event will highlight the importance of healthy diets and physical activity for the health of European citizens, as well as their direct relevance to the performance of the EU economy.

At present, more than half of European adults are overweight or obese. As long as this is the case, heart disease, diabetes and some cancers will continue to be mounting threats to our quality of life, to the sustainability of our health systems and to the vitality of our economy.

In addition, a generation of children with high prevalence of obesity is appearing before us. They risk having reduced quality of life now and in the future. These children face a high probability of remaining obese throughout their lives in what threatens to become a vicious circle. Further, as future taxpayers, they could end up paying for more expensive healthcare as systems become more and more stressed with the rising cost of chronic diseases.

The flipside – the good news – is that all these diseases are vastly preventable. We can avoid these darker outcomes because they are strongly associated with our way of life, namely with our diets and with our level of physical activity. This means that we do not have to wait for a scientific breakthrough or a magical compass in order for us to know direction where to go. In fact, this conference stresses how important it is to follow the basics. We can go a long way by ensuring that our children have access to balanced and healthy meals at schools and kindergartens, drink plenty of water, and engage in regular physical activity.

At the same time, it is also important to protect them from aggressive advertising and limit their screen time, while making the best of the health potential of mobile applications and modern technologies to educate and inform children about healthy lifestyle. As it stands to reason, for this process of change to work, we must call on and be more demanding with all stakeholders.

From the policy side, we need to have and keep a steady strategy, target our action and use our resources effectively. I both hope and believe that this conference will contribute exactly to those objectives.