On 23 September 2015, the WHO Country Office, Estonia organized in collaboration with WHO/Europe an open discussion with several Estonian stakeholders to talk about further steps for the country to join the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI).
The aim of the meeting was to:
- give an overview about the COSI network
- introduce sampling and data collection methods
- discuss the possibilities and potential to integrate the COSI dataset into the Estonian system.
By the end of the meeting, participants had a greater understanding about the COSI network and agreed on the steps for Estonia to join COSI.
Participants
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Social Affairs, the National Institute for Health Development, the Estonian E-Health Foundation and the WHO Country Office, Estonia. The meeting was guided by:
- Dr João Breda, Programme Manager for Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity at WHO/Europe;
- Marta Buoncristiano, National Institute of Health, Italy, Rome.
About COSI
COSI aims to measure trends in overweight and obesity in primary schoolchildren (6–9 year olds) at regular intervals. Overweight and obesity are some of the major food-related risk factors for chronic diseases in Europe. According to Dr Breda, "Obesity and overweight are the most important health problem amongst children in Europe." Such data are essential to inform policy development within the Region, to be able to compare data across countries, indicate trends and provide insight into the impact of action taken.
The first COSI round took place in 2007/2008 with 14 countries participating. By the third round in 2015/2016, 31 countries had joined the surveillance initiative.