Last week the European Commission adopted a White Paper entitled A Strategy for Europe on Nutrition, Overweight and Obesity-related Health Issues. The EU is getting increasingly concerned with the prevalent unhealthy eating habits as the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that the prevalence of obesity has more than trebled in many European countries since the 1980s, with people consuming more calories per day but doing less physical exercise.
Malta is far from being an exception and the obesity problem is really hitting us hard. In 2005, a WHO-sponsored study in 34 countries put Malta on top of the obesity and overweight charts, followed by the United States, England and Canada, with sedentary behaviours such as television viewing and physical inactivity being strongly correlated with being overweight. Another report which was recently published by the WHO shows that 41.6 per cent of men and 29 per cent of women aged 20 to 64 years are overweight, while another 26.6 per cent of men and 20.4 per cent of women are obese.
In light of this growing problem and piling pressure from the WHO on the Maltese authorities, the Maltese government has last month launched a campaign to curb obesity. The anti-obesity campaign which carries the slogan Hfief u b’Sahhitna tul Hajjitna highlights the importance of a healthy body mass index throughout life and has three main messages: promoting daily exercise, encouraging adults to check their BMI regularly and taking the necessary action, and if the BMI is over 30, they could enrol in the health department weight reduction programme which operates in health centres in Malta and Gozo. A committee is also being set up to develop a strategy that tackles obesity from every angle and offers healthier choices to the population.
But the problem is not solely prevalent in Malta as the levels of overweight and obesity are also alarming in the other EU member states where, in their majority, 50 per cent of the adult population is considered overweight or obese. And the problem is more acute among children with an estimated prevalence of overweight of 30 per cent in 2006. This makes the situation even worse as obese youngsters have a great tendency to become obese adults with all related health risks including heart disease, type-2 diabetes, hypertension, stroke and certain types of cancer.
To combat this problem more effectively, the recently-adopted White Paper, which builds on previous EU initiatives, most notably the EU Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health (March 2005) and the Green Paper Promoting healthy diets and physical activity: a European dimension for the prevention of overweight, obesity and chronic diseases (December 2005), aims to create an integrated EU approach to fight poor nutrition, overweight and obesity.
The White Paper promotes the idea of more cross-sectoral action-oriented partnerships across the EU-27 based on existing mechanisms such as the EU Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health and encourages stakeholders to cooperate and establish fora at national and local level within the member states.
The White Paper strongly recommends that any actions in this regard should first aim to address the root causes of the health-related risks and should thus target poor diet, limited physical activity and excess weight. Moreover, action should work across all government policy areas and at different levels, using all instruments at its disposal such as legislation, networking, public-private approaches, the private sector and civil society.
It also calls for stronger action from private actors especially the food industry to reformulate foods, to advertise responsibly and to reduce levels of salt, fats and sugar in food products, while schools and community organisations should also get involved to develop advertising and marketing campaigns to encourage physical activity and focus on target groups such as children. Private actors are also being encouraged to develop stronger advertising codes in the EU that build on existing European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) codes to include the results emerging from the Commission’s 2006 Advertising Roundtable.
Monitoring is also given utmost importance and should continue to take place over the coming years given that the number of activities aimed at improving diet and physical activity is increasing and there is often little monitoring taking place and consequently no proper assessments are carried out on what is working well or otherwise.
The White Paper also proposes the creation of a new High Level Group focused on nutrition, overweight and obesity-related health issues with a representative from every member state to ensure high-level political support and cross-sectoral cooperation. Additionally, it also mentions new actions from the Commission which above all include a revision of nutritional labelling, programmes to promote the consumption of fruit and vegetables, a White Paper on Sport and a study to explore the potential of food reformulation to improved diet.
The European Commission will now monitor the progress and performers of all those involved in the next three years and will conduct a first review in 2010.
On presenting the White Paper, Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said that what consumers eat is up to them, but they should be able to make informed choices and have a range of healthy options to choose from, hinting that by 2010, the Commission will see whether there is the need for legislation if the response to this White Paper does not lead food industries to self-regulate.
Meanwhile, in the last Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council meeting held on 30 and 31 May, ministers from the EU-27 adopted a conclusion termed Health promotion by means of nutrition and physical activity wherein they called on member states to adhere to the overweight and obese reduction targets as set out in the Badenweiler Memorandum and the European Charter on Counteracting Obesity and to improve health promotion, healthy nutrition and physical activity at all levels and in all sectors of political decision-making and implementation such as agriculture, environment, urban planning and building projects, transport, education, family and youth, the economics sphere, research, as well as in the workplace to improve employees’ health and performance and reduce absenteeism.
Member states were also encouraged to support the creation of environments where healthy choices are favoured and easily made. Healthy eating and opportunities for physical activity should also be promoted, particularly in kindergartens, schools and daily life and in subjects taught at educational establishments by organising activities such as healthy eating and physical activity awareness-raising events in schools.
Council ministers also called for more supported science and research to determine more clearly factors causing overweight and obesity including methods to encourage changes in lifestyle.
On the other hand, the council lauded the efforts made by the European Commission in fighting these problems and encouraged it, above all, to keep on promoting strategies and measures based on health factors such as nutrition and physical activity to fight off overweight and obesity problems.
More information is available from “Forum Malta fl-Ewropa” on tel.: 2590-9101 or by email to: [email protected]
Ronald Mizzi is Research Analyst, “Forum Malta fl-Ewropa”
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Vulnerable children
Further to the article Vulnerable children and the EU (TMID, 31 May), it must be clarified that the Department for Social Welfare Standards informed the Forum Malta fl-Ewropa that it only deals with cases of alleged parental abductions. The error is regretted. Apologies for any inconveniences caused.