Objective

Many Health Information Activities related to nutrition and physical activity have been initiated during the past years by several institutions on the national and international level as well as by several European networks. A multitude of projects with different scopes and methodologies has arisen. This variety makes it necessary to bring the results of these activities into a coordinated framework. The report aims to give a structured overview on the availability of routine repeated or repeatable data on the health determinants nutrition and physical activity in European countries. An Inventory of Health Information Activities on physical activity and nutrition was built up, which summarises activities carried out by the European Commission, the WHO, various European Networks, as well as national examples. The Health Information Activities collected as national examples assess data for all countries belonging to the European Union up to 2006, the European Economic Area (EEA) and all Candidate countries. The Inventory considers activities which started in 1990 or later, which were still running or have been approved but not yet started.

Method

The report analyses institutional structures (WHO, European Commission, European Networks) as well as examples of health information activities at the national level. A network of European public health professionals identified available national health information activities and survey data, which were summarised in a structured online database.

Results

The results section presents activities in the field of health information on physical activity and nutrition of the European Commission (DG Sanco), the World Health Organisation (Europe) and various European networks. Furthermore, this section presents the analysis of the database which summarises health information activities in European countries. The database is freely accessible at the website of the Working Party. Additionally, the supplement provides a summary of Health Information Activities for each country in Country Profile Sheets.

Conclusion

The report provides a general overview on Health Information Activities related to physical activity and nutrition as well as a state-of-the-art investigation about available data in European countries. The concluding section of the report aims to recommend future Health Information actions which outline open issues.