Dear colleagues, partners and friends,

It is my honour to welcome you to the first newsletter of the JA Best-ReMaP. Going forward, we wish to use our newsletters to keep you up to date with the latest developments in the core Work Packages, as well as with the latest publications of the reports and announcement of upcoming events. Our plan is to publish another five issues throughout the course of the JA Best-ReMaP.

It is widely known that childhood obesity is a public health issue both in Europe and worldwide.

According to the European Commission, in 2017 around 15% of children and adolescents were overweight and about 5% were obese in the EU. With the COVID-19 syndemic ravaging the world, this poses even greater concerns. Combined with the risk of a global economic crisis, it may affect the most vulnerable populations that already bear a greater risk of obesity even more disproportionately. COVID-19 coupled with the economic crisis could lead to a huge growth of the obesity pandemic in the future. In fact, some results already point to an increase in childhood obesity and a decrease of their physical performance as a result of the COVID-19 syndemic.

All this makes JA Best-ReMaP’s goals, efforts and interventions even more significant than ever. Our activities should address the obesitogenic environment and provide more opportunities for European children to have a healthy diet. JA Best-ReMaP, engaging 24 Member States with a range of collaborating partners, has the power to do just this. We are going to concentrate on food reformulation, the reduction of unhealthy food marketing to children and public food procurement in order to ensure that healthy choices are the easy choices for children and their parents and caregivers, together with higher quality menus in school settings where children consume a significant portion of their daily food intake. We are also encouraged by the EU’s plan for beating cancer, where the defined actions of our JA are mentioned: “The Commission also supports Member States and stakeholders in their effort on reformulation of and on implementation of effective policies to reduce marketing of unhealthy food products, including through a Joint Action on Implementation of Validated Best Practices in Nutrition.” 

In our ambition to reach our goals and truly make a big step towards changing food policies across Member States, we are networking with national and EU decision-makers. In addition, we are working closely with the representatives of various DG’s, OECD, WHO and other institutions. We are happy also to be cooperating with a team of brilliant professionals in the Steering Committee of JA Best-ReMaP, who are giving a strong boost to us all with their rich experiences in the field. In order to make an even greater breakthrough in our mission we have joined forces with big EU projects such as STOP, CO-CREATE, PEN and World Obesity Federation.

We are hopeful that with all the attention and support that we have been given, we could contribute to curbing and reversing the trend of childhood obesity. We are determined to make an impact, since we are convinced that when it comes to public health we have a responsibility to make healthier choices easier. I believe that together we can achieve great outcomes and give children a healthier start in life.

Enjoy reading our first newsletter!

Warmest wishes,

Mojca Gabrijelčič Blenkuš

Coordinator of the Joint Action, National Institute of Public Health of Slovenia