ERA-HDHL (2017) - Policy Evaluation Network

Effectiveness of existing policies for lifestyle interventions

The ERA-HDHL partners launched the second joint funding action “Effectiveness of existing policies for lifestyle interventions – Policy Evaluation Network (PEN)“ within ERA-HDHL by the end of February 2017. PEN started in the beginning of 2019 and will run for 3 years.

Background

Up to now, the impact of policies aiming for significant and sustainable changes in dietary, physical activity and/or sedentary behaviors conducted across Europe has not been assessed or evaluated systematically. As a consequence there is only incomplete knowledge about the effect of different policy intervention types and strategies on consumers’ health and lifestyles. In particular, the variations of their effectiveness in different cultural, demographic, socio-economic or ethnic groups or their transferability to other social contexts have not been taken into account yet.

Aim of the call

The aim of the call is to establish a transnational, multi-disciplinary research network for the monitoring, benchmarking and evaluation of policies that affect dietary and physical activity as well as sedentary behavior with standardized protocols across Europe.

The Policy Evaluation Network makes use of the achievements of the previous JPI HDHL Joint Action “Determinants of Diet and Physical Activity Knowledge Hub” (DEDIPAC KH) and combine them with other existing tools and frameworks to develop a consistent and sustainable approach for the evaluation and benchmarking of existing policies. The focus is put on the comprehensive application of this new approach for policy evaluation. Although the network activities are supposed to build on the results of the DEDIPAC KH, the Policy Evaluation Network is explicitly not meant as a direct continuation of the DEDIPAC KH.

For the purpose of this call, policies are defined as decisions, plans, and actions that are implemented by national or regional governments to achieve specific health care goals within a society. The policies to be evaluated include:

• Policies that directly affect dietary and physical activity as well as sedentary behavior
• Policies that indirectly affect the aforementioned health behaviors, for example from the field of transportation, agriculture or environment/sustainability.

Policies addressing the consumption of alcohol, tobacco or drugs are excluded from this call.

Participating countries

Contact call Secretariat: DLR (Germany), nutrition-HDHL@dlr.de