euPrevent Project– HEPCOM

HEPCOM stands for Promoting Healthy Eating and Physical activity in local communities.

The HEPCOM project is a European online learning platform that supports local communities, such as schools, municipalities and districts, to prevent obesity among children and adolescents. In the Euregio Meuse-Rhine (EMR) this platform helped 15 local communities to improve their approach in the field of a healthy diet and physical exercise.

Focus of the project

Organisations in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine (EMR) have been collaborating since 2009 on preventing overweight in children and adolescents. Read more about the euPrevent project – Overweight here. The quality instrument HEPS Tool was developed within this cross-border collaboration.

The aim of the two HEPCOM projects is to prevent obesity among children and adolescents in the EMR.

Within the two HEPCOM projects, the HEPS Tool was used to improve policy relating to a healthy diet and physical exercise in 15 local communities in the EMR. Local professionals received training and guidance in using the HEPS Tool. The HEPS Tool remain available online, which means sustainable use can be made of them.

HEPS Tool

The idea is to use the HEPS tool, together with the person responsible for the school or community, to develop policy regarding a healthy diet and physical exercise. This policy pays attention to:

• The needs and values of the community and its surroundings.
• The goals and objectives of the community.
• Promoting the priorities, tasks and initiatives in relation to a health diet and physical exercise within the community.
• The resources available for developing the policy.
• An implementation, control and evaluation plan.

Results

As a result of the HEPCOM projects, every participating community has a plan of approach in the field of a healthy diet and physical exercise that is customised to its own requirements.

A couple of concrete examples are:

• Increased insight into the current situation regarding the number of children with obesity;
• Increased insight into children’s diets and exercise behaviour;
• More enquiry in the analysis about the needs of pupils and their parents;
• Involving parents more in the planning and implementation of initiatives regarding a healthy diet and physical exercise;
• Additional training for teachers and parties involved in order to increase their skills regarding these topics;
• More attention to school breaks for physical exercise;
• More attention to effective written instructions on school policy on health.

HEPCOM is supported by the EU’s Health Programme (2008-2013). The views expressed are purely the authors’ own and do not reflect the views of the European Commission.