European Joint Action on Nutrition and Physical Activity JANPA

In 2007, the European Commission set up the High Level Group on Nutrition and Physical Activity made up of representatives of EU Member State governments (with the Directorate General for Health representing France), under the Commission's leadership. In 2014, this Group proposed the implementation of a European Joint Action on Nutrition and Physical Activity. Coordinated by France, JANPA was a direct contribution to the EU Action Plan on Childhood Obesity (PDF)2014-2020 and enabled the best data and practices available in the 26 countries involved (25 Member States of the EU, plus Norway) to be shared, identified and selected. As part of its coordination activities, ANSES also contributed to two other horizontal work packages (WPs) (communication/dissemination and evaluation).

JANPA was also composed of four technical WPs that produced tangible results:

• WP5: “Monitoring nutritional information and promoting the reformulation of foods”, led by ANSES with the participation of INRA and 10 other European partners representing eight countries, recognised the need to improve nutritional information in order to contribute to the food purchasing decisions of citizens and acquire knowledge on the variability of nutrient levels in food. The French OQALI Imodel was tested in Romania and Austria, with two categories of products widely consumed by children: breakfast cereals and non-alcoholic beverages. The two pilot studies undertaken as part of JANPA demonstrated that OQALI is an effective and inexpensive tool for collecting information to compare nutritional situations within and between countries. Based on this knowledge, common objectives can be defined for the reformulation of foods and their monitoring by public institutions;
• in the context of WP4: “Economic rationale for tackling childhood obesity” led by Ireland, the future costs of childhood obesity were estimated at country level, for a few countries, using a model taking into account health and societal costs related to premature mortality and loss of productivity. These estimates may prove essential to national advocacy efforts in favour of nutritional policies when governmental trade-offs have to be made;
• the work of WP6: “Healthy environments by integrated approaches”, led by Hungary, and of WP7: “Early interventions”, led by Finland, enabled criteria to be defined for selecting best practices for early interventions and actions at school, starting in preschools. These best practices were selected by the participating countries based on strict criteria. An online toolbox was created on the basis of their descriptions and qualitative analyses. Actions can be selected using search criteria such as country, area of intervention, intervention type, budget, etc.(anpa-toolbox.eu/). Recommendations for developing, implementing, sustaining and facilitating the transferability of a best practice were also formulated. The best practices identified through JANPA were also included in the “Best Practice” portal of the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) of the European Commission.

The results of JANPA were presented and discussed during the final conference (PDF) that was held on 24 November 2017 in Paris, at the Ministry of Solidarity and Health, in the presence of Mr Vytenis Andriukaitis, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, and Ms Agnès Buzyn, French Minister for Solidarity and Health. It brought together more than 250 people from 30 countries (professionals in the fields of public health, nutrition and physical activity, scientists, representatives from the food industry and consumer protection associations, etc.). It concluded with a presentation by Mr Roger Genet, Director General of ANSES, who underlined the significance and success of the work undertaken in the framework of JANPA as well as the need to work together at the national, European and international levels to find mechanisms that will enable the initiatives tested by JANPA to be rolled out.

A final brochure (PDF) gives a detailed description of JANPA and the main results obtained, while its conclusions and recommendations are set out in the JANPA position paper (PDF).