We participate in a new face-to-face meeting of the Health4EUKids project
The meeting held in Patras (Greece) was key in this latest stage of the project in terms of sharing and discussing results, sustainability and knowledge transfer.
On 28 and 29 August, the third face-to-face meeting between the partners participating in the project took place in Patras (Greece), specifically focusing on the work packages related to sustainability and interventions (WP4, WP5 and WP6) of the European Health4EUKids project. This two-day event brought together representatives from the countries and regions involved, including the Basque Country, to establish the next steps and commitments to be fulfilled before its completion at the end of November 2025.
The event, held at the Achaia Beach Hotel, was coordinated by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS, Italy), FISABIO (Valencia) and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (TLH, Finland), and was attended by our researcher, Irati Erreguerena, representing Biosistemak and the pilot project being carried out in the Basque Country.
Health4EUKids is a European Joint Action co-funded by the European Commission under the EU4Health programme. The project aims to prevent childhood obesity through the transfer and implementation of good practices in health promotion and the prevention of non-communicable diseases, especially in areas of greater social vulnerability.
Progress and debate on the work packages
During the first day of the meeting in Patras, the achievements to date were presented and working sessions were held in a “world café” format to discuss the sustainability and transferability of the interventions being implemented in the different Member States of Europe. Local perspectives and a joint analysis of future challenges and opportunities for European collaboration between the partners participating in the Joint Action were also addressed.
The second day was organised in parallel by WP5 Grünau Moves and WP6 Smart Families, and included key topics such as the evaluation of implementation processes, analysis using SWOT methodology (a document that analyses Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats – SWOT) on the interventions deployed and the definition of tasks for the preparation of the final project report, which will compile the results of the pilots. Progress was also made in planning scientific dissemination in order to publish the main results and lessons learned from Health4EUKids.
The community intervention: ‘Erandio mugitzen ari da’
Specifically, in the Basque Country, the Grünau Moves (Germany) good practice is being implemented in the municipality of Erandio, which is part of the Uribe-Kosta Public Health District. Through the community participatory process “ Erandio mugitzen ari da! “, which has been underway since 2023, a participatory process has been defined and deployed to create active and healthy environments for children aged 4 to 12 and their families in the municipality of Vizcaya. The aim is to improve the community’s lifestyle habits in terms of diet, physical activity and emotional well-being, from a perspective of social equity and diversity.
Looking to the future
The meeting in Greece served to reinforce the European commitment to the sustainability of child health interventions and to exchange lessons learned on how to adapt good practices to different local contexts.
Through its participation, Biosistemak has consolidated its role as a strategic partner in promoting community health in Europe, bringing the experience of Erandio and the Basque Country to the international debate on the prevention of childhood obesity.
