Nutrition Communication in Europe (2018)

Meeting Report, 7–8 September 2017, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Joint meeting of the European Public Health Nutrition Alliance (EPHNA) and World Health Organization (WHO Regional Office for Europe).

The ambition of the European Public Health Nutrition Alliance (EPHNA) is to become the leading partnership on nutrition communication between European countries. Established in 2014, EPHNA is a joint force of centres that are responsible for nutrition and health communication at country level. Its primary focus is public health nutrition. While its early efforts were directed mainly at expanding its network, since 2016 EPHNA has focused on professionalizing its operation. By creating a vision, mission and focus for its work and extending its public profile by launching a website (www.ephna.eu), EPHNA has taken the first steps towards establishing itself as a professional alliance. Its initiatives are supported by the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe).

On 7–8 September 2017, 11 organizations from 10 European countries, together with representatives from WHO/Europe, came together at UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark. During this two-day meeting, introductory presentations were given by all the organizations present. Progress made by the first two EPHNA working groups (“Increasing vegetable intake” and “Healthy schools and school meals”) was reported to the meeting, and two new working groups (on food guidelines and the creation of apps) were established.