Partnership based complex health program for children in Buda Region is the third winner of 2020 EU Health Award – Call on Healthy Lifestyles - in the city category
Buda Region Health Program is a unique regional public health program in Hungary which strengthens the health promotion and prevention activities at the local level with the involvement of different stakeholders including local and national health care providers, academia, NGOs, municipalities and government. This Program provides a framework for the partners to work together effectively, to complement each other’s profile in the area of health promotion. One of the major objectives of the Program is the complex promotion of children’s health in a sustainable way by creating environment for healthy choices, developing health care services, improving health behavior and health literacy of the children with the involvement of schools, families, and the community, and translating the experience gained through the program into policy recommendations.
With the cooperation between education, public health and health professionals a multicomponent school health program was developed. The program started three years ago and supports twelve schools at the Buda Region in the implementation of holistic school health promotion activities complemented by community programs and facilities. Since 2012, the holistic health promotion is mandatory for all educational institutions. However, many health promotion programs at schools are frontal-type health education led by external lecturers and do not meet the novel knowledge transfer methodological needs of the Z and alpha generations. The Buda Region Health Program utilizes existing international and domestic good practices in a sustainable way with the involvement of schools, families, and health care professionals. The health behaviour of the students is monitored biannually by validated methods. The major priorities of the Program are tackling and preventing childhood obesity by promoting healthy diet and encouraging physical activity and preventing addictions by improving mental health, social skills and health literacy of children. It is important to note that the teachers are not only executives but also targets of the program. Teachers serve as role models for children, therefore children can learn new communication and conflict management techniques based on the teacher's behavioural patterns on a daily basis. The benefit of their personal and professional life gained through new skills motivates teachers, so the new approaches can be engaged in their daily work easier. This comprehensive health promotion for children is part of the community health program in Buda Region and it serves as a pilot program to provide the evidence and experience for public health programs of other Hungarian regions.
https://ec.europa.eu/health/award/initiatives_en
www.budakornyekiegeszsegprogram.hu
Budapest, 04.03.2021.
Zsuzsa Rákosy Ph.D.
Scientific leader of the Buda Region’s Health Program
National Koranyi Institute for Pulmonology, Budapest
