The HOPE Project
HOPE - Health promotion through Obesity Prevention in Europe - represents a three-year examination begun in September 2006 of the determinants of obesity, culminating in a series of scenarios and policy recommendations.
The project was part-funded by the European Commission (6th Framework Programme), and completed in December 2009.
On completion of The Hope Project, a detailed overview of the work packages, their outcomes and the policy implications was completed.
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Download ({asset_size})General objectives
The project aims to provide a systematic inventory of existing scientific knowledge across Europe, looking especially at the obesity-causing environment to evaluate interventions, consider socio-economic and life-course aspects, and improve understanding of macro- and micro-level determinants. The project also aims to make a special effort to include data from Eastern Europe.
Hope focuses on overweight and obesity as one of the main determinants of loss of healthy life years and of health disparities in Europe. In particular, it aims to expand understanding of key lifestyle factors such as nutrition and physical activity which are the primary determinants. It also aims to identify i) socio-economic and environmental determinants of these behaviours and ii) effective interventions for preventing obesity and reducing related social inequalities.
Specific objectives
- To create a network of researchers into overweight and obesity;
- To advance current knowledge of overweight, obesity, nutrition and physical activity, which may contribute to obesity prevention in infants, adolescents and adults;
- To improve understanding of environmental determinants of obesity by assessing the impact of environmental factors on obesity and on nutrition and physical activity behaviours at the family, school, workplace and national policy level;
- To further understanding of overweight and obesity-related health inequalities and their determinants;
- To provide systematic reviews of obesity interventions with an emphasis on schools and workplaces, taking into account the effectiveness of, and barriers against, successful implementation;
- To develop scenarios of the future burden of disease of overweight and obesity, and to forecast the impact of full implementation of best practice policies and interventions in European children, adolescents and adults.
World Obesity's role
- Co-ordinating two network meetings in 2008 and 2009, attended by over 80 EU experts;
- Promoting the project at international scientific and policy-related meetings;
- Offering a free weekly news service through the project website www.hopeproject.eu;
- Developing relations with Eastern European specialists through an obesity prevalence meeting in 2008;
- Providing summaries of the major policy implications of the research results;
- Ensuring the project output includes expert reviews of evidence, policy papers and an ongoing network of experts and news service.
HOPE Network List
Click here to download HOPE network list. (pdf 0.33mb)