Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: EPODE is a coordinated, capacity-building approach for communities to implement effective and sustainable strategies to prevent childhood obesity.

Methods: At central level, a coordination team using social marketing and organizational techniques trains and coaches a local project manager nominated in each EPODE town by the local authorities. The local project manager is also provided with tools to mobilize local stakeholders through a local steering committee and local networks. The added value of the methodology is based on a strong scientific input, institutional endorsement, evidence-base and social marketing techniques, sustainable resources, brand dynamics and evaluation. EPODE Monitoring and Evaluation practices to date include not only outcome but also process and output indicators at central, local, setting, child levels.

Results: The EPODE methodology is now implemented in more than 300 towns in six countries (Spain, Belgium, Greece, France, South Australia, Mexico) and concerns more than five million people. At child level the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children aged 5 to 12 is monitored. In the 8 French pilot towns, the response rate is high (95%). The prevalence of children overweight including obesity decreased in these pilot towns between 2005 and 2009 (from 20.6 to 18,8%, P<0.0001). From 2008, the EPODE European Network project is enriching the EPODE methodology and facilitating the implementation of similar initiatives in other European countries.

Conclusion: Childhood obesity is a complex issue and needs a multistakeholder involvement at all levels to foster healthier lifestyles in a sustainable way. The EPODE methodology contributes to this approach.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This work was supported, however funding details unavailable.