INFORMAS Europe is a European network of research groups measuring food environments, investigating the impact of food environments and related policies on health and assessing the implementation of recommended food environment policies by the main actors to increase accountability for action.
The specific objectives of the network are:
- Collect, collate and analyze data on public and private sector policies and actions, food environments, population diets, obesity and NCDs
- Compare and communicate the progress on improving food environments against best practice benchmarks, between countries and over time
- Use the results to strengthen public health efforts, particularly by supporting the translation of relevant evidence into public and private sector actions.
What is INFORMAS?
INFORMAS (International Network for Food and Obesity / Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) Research, Monitoring and Action Support) is a global network of public-interest organisations and researchers that aims to monitor, benchmark and support public and private sector actions to increase healthy food environments and reduce obesity and NCDs and their related inequalities.
The INFORMAS framework consists of two ‘process’ modules that monitor the policies and actions of the public and private sectors, and seven ‘impact’ modules that monitor the key characteristics of food environments. Monitoring frameworks and indicators have been developed for the modules to provide consistent data collection and analysis.
What are food environments?
Unhealthy diets and excess energy intake are modifiable factors that contribute to disease and disability in Europe. One of the main factors contributing to unhealthy diets is unhealthy food environments, defined as the collective physical, economic, policy and sociocultural surroundings, opportunities and conditions that influence people’s food and beverage choices and nutritional status.
Healthy Food Environment Policy Index (Food-EPI)
Food-EPI is a tool and process to assess the extent of implementation of recommended food environment policies by national governments compared with international best practices and to derive priority actions to fill implementation gaps.
Business Impact Assessment on Obesity and Population Nutrition (BIA-Obesity)
BIA-Obesity is a tool and process to measure the commitments, performance and disclosure practices of the major food companies at the national level.
News from STOP
- Policy makers and public health organisations called to engage with Food EPI recommendations December 7, 2022In the past decades, the number of people living with overweight, obesity, and diet related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has risen. This increase has been associated with widening exposure to obesogenic food environments in Europe and […]
- Health-GPS: A microsimulation tool by Alijadallah Belabess December 7, 2022Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are responsible for 74% of deaths worldwide. They have a tremendous impact on people’s mental and physical well-being whilst also having an economic impact through losses in productivity and unemployment. There has […]
- STOP Final Conference: What next in childhood obesity research for policy? December 7, 2022Over the last four-and-a-half years, the STOP project has been undertaking research on the determinants of childhood obesity and the policies and interventions that are necessary to address its rising prevalence across Europe. STOP partners […]
- STOP at ICO 2022 October 31, 2022As the STOP project draws to an end, the project took advantage of the International Congress on Obesity (ICO 2022) to showcase the state-of-the-art findings and tools that have come out of the project. In […]
- Key obesity, nutrition, and physical activity stakeholders gather in Slovenia for final STOP Stakeholder meeting October 24, 2022Over the last 4 years, the STOP project has been undertaking research on the determinants of childhood obesity and the policies and interventions that are necessary to address the rising prevalence of childhood obesity. Throughout […]
- Preventing Obesity across Europe: A call to action October 13, 2022STOP, in collaboration with three other European projects – CO-CREATE, PEN and Joint Action BestReMap – is calling on the EU and national governments to commit to new policies and research investment to help prevent […]
- STOP and WHO launch their toolkit to guide and shape health-driven policymaking June 16, 2022Starting today, policy makers may access new tools to help them direct and prioritize policy options in addressing childhood obesity and improving health across Europe. The STOP Project and the World Health Organization (WHO) have […]
- World Obesity Day 2022: Everybody Needs to Act to address the root causes of childhood obesity March 2, 2022Obesity in children has been a cause of concern for decades, but with the effects of the pandemic exacerbating the issue, it has now become a serious public health crisis. The STOP Project, 24 organisations, […]
- Assessing food companies’ commitments and practices on food environments and population nutrition in France February 24, 2022We have long been aware of the link between food environments and risk of overweight and obesity, something which has been exacerbated in recent months by COVID-19. By 2030, obesity is expected to affect over […]
- An interview with Professor Mojca Gabrijelčič Blenkuš November 16, 2021In a recent interview, we talked with Prof Mojca Gabrijelčič Blenkuš, a medical doctor and public health specialist. Prof Gabrijelčič is a member of the STOP consortium and coordinator of the Joint Action Best Practices […]