STOP

Science & Technology in childhood Obesity Policy (STOP)

Principal Investigator: Professor Franco Sassi

Funder: European Commission (H2020 SC2)

Duration: June 2018 – May 2022

The STOP project has brought together a range of key health and food sector actors to generate scientifically sound and policy-relevant evidence on the factors that have contributed to the spread of childhood obesity in European Countries. Over the course of four years the European Commission-funded collaborative will posit alternative policy options to address the problem.

The research will expand and consolidate the multidisciplinary evidence base upon which effective and sustainable policies can be built to prevent and manage childhood obesity. STOP also aims at creating the conditions for evidence to translate into policy and for policy to translate into impacts on the ground.

The primary focus of STOP is on the cumulative impacts of multiple and synergistic exposures in vulnerable and socially disadvantaged children and their families, which must be a priority target for the fight against childhood obesity in Europe to reach a tipping point and succeed. STOP will identify critical stages in childhood (starting from prenatal exposures) at which interventions can be most effective and efficient.

Major health and food sector actors, including scientists, health professionals, government policy makers, national public health agencies, international organisations, civil society and business organisations are working together to establish mechanisms through which policy-relevant evidence can be generated, made available and used in the design and implementation of effective and sustainable solutions for the childhood obesity problem at the EU, National and local levels. The project has adopted a trans-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral (whole-of-government) approach, in a “Health-in-all-policies” framework. In the pursuit of the above goals, the project will benefit from the support and contributions of partners from non-European countries (United States and New Zealand), who will complement the expertise of European partners and share valuable experiences in addressing childhood obesity.