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CO-CREATE is an international research project that aims to create and implement a global strategy to h alt the development of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents. The project aims to find solutions that will allow young people suffering from obesity to find themselves in the current reality, persuade them to lead a he althy life, and to change national policies in the field of he alth care for people with obesity. The concept is created by scientists, he alth care experts and the people concerned, i.e. young people. Polish scientists from SWPS University have also joined the research team.
In 2025, more than every fifth child in Poland will be overweight or will already be obese. The number of overweight people aged 5 to 17 is increasing year by year in most European countries. In seven years, over 30 percent. children and adolescents in Greece, Slovenia and Great Britain will weigh above the norm. To prevent this from happening, the Co-Create consortium associating 14 research institutions and non-governmental organizations, together with young people, is looking for the most effective ways to reduce overweight and obesity among young people.
- We have decided to work together with young people because it is a key age group whose members will soon become parents and participants in political life that will influence the upbringing of the next generations. In ten years they are, among others through active participation in politics, they will consciously create the reality of other young people, including the he alth care system. That is why we want to create new, effective and attractive concepts with them now - explains prof. Aleksandra Łuszczyńska from SWPS University, leader of the Polish CO-CREATE team.
The main goal of the program is to empower young people and include them in the process of creating, implementing and selecting activities promoting a he althy lifestyle. According to the assumptions, they are also to evaluate the performance of the public and private sectors responsible for lifestyle behavior.
As the project leader, prof. Knut-Inge Klepp from the Norwegian Institute of Public He alth, experts have access to many large databases and tools to monitor he alth-related activities and concepts in Europe.
- Combining new systemanalytical approaches as well as the commitment and full participation of young people, we will create modern effective strategies and tools supporting a he althy lifestyle. The knowledge obtained in the project, modern methods of evaluation and implementation of activities, created in cooperation with young people, will allow us to propose new system solutions, including political ones, that will be important and attractive for young people - emphasizes prof. Knut-Inge Klepp.
CO-CREATE is funded by the European Commission under the "Sustainable and Safe Food" program, Horizon 2022, which awarded the consortium EUR 9.5 million. 14 research groups from six European countries, Australia, South Africa and the USA will collaborate on the strategy to reduce the obesity epidemic for five years (2022-2023).
Prepared on the basis of: press materials of the SWPS University