Community partnerships: preventing childhood obesity

A lot of factors lead to the development of overweight and obesity in children. This article highlights that in this context, preventing childhood obesity must be at the core of the various agencies’ priorities such as food industry, stores, parents, schools, authorities as well as advertising agencies. A critical examination of the existing literature led to a considered evaluation of the EPODE programme. Preventing childhood obesity needs collaboration between all the concerned parts through a common project. The evaluation of the programme would benefit from a systematic analysis of investment and measurable outcomes. There are important implications for planning public policy in local communities as identification of relevant stakeholders should be considered from the outset. The EPODE case is a uniquely French programme that included almost all the town community (government, school, children, parents, food and drink manufactures, etc) through a common objective: preventing childhood obesity. © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited