Actions and programs of European countries to combat obesity in children and adolescents: a survey

In view of the dramatically increasing prevalence of obesity among European children and adolescents and its comorbidities, the EU and national health authorities are confronted with a major public health problem, starting in childhood. So far, little is known about policies and prevention programs that are planned and implemented in EU member states in order to combat childhood obesity epidemic. For this reason all 25 Ministries of Health have been asked to give a report on their activities in that specific field. In all, 19 ministries responded and provided information on their measures in varying detail. Taken together, it shows that most ministries are aware of that severe problem and different kind of ‘National Action plans against Obesity’ have been recently established. However, in most cases no detailed information about the realization and the effectiveness of these programs were given. Thus, there is an urgent need for specific actions both at national and European levels in regard to succeed in fighting childhood obesity.