HOPE (Health promotion through Obesity Prevention across Europe) reported its progress

In a preconference workshop at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO), organised by the European Association of the Study of Obesity, the HOPE project held its 2nd ‘Network of Networks’ meeting. HOPE stands for Health promotion through Obesity Prevention across Europe, and it’s a European Commission funded research project that aims to aims to bring the scientific knowledge on overweight, obesity and their determinants together and use the expertise of researchers all over Europe to help to tackle the obesity epidemic.
More specifically HOPE aimed to carry out quantitative analyses, modelling and systematic reviews on obesogenic physical activity and nutrition behaviours, their environmental determinants, consequences on health and health inequalities among children and adults, and prevention interventions, in order to provide an evidence-based inventory of best practices for the development of evidence-based policies and interventions for obesity prevention across the European Union.
We are now in the final stages of the HOPE project. We are now finalizing a series of systematic reviews, a series of scientific papers on secondary analyses, as well as epidemiological modelling to present scenario’s of what may happen to the obesity epidemic and its consequences on health and disability, if evidence-based interventions and policies are implemented across Europe.
These scientific reports will soon be submitted as deliverables to the European Commission, as well as to international scientific journals for peer review and publication.
At the Network of Network meeting, that I co-chaired with professor Philip James, we presented our results and the translation of these results into concrete policy recommendations to an audience of scientists, policy advisors, and government officials. We will use their feedback to fine tune our conclusions and recommendations that will be available via our website in the next few months.
Click here for some pictures of the presenters, discussants and audience at the HOPE meeting.