EuroHealthNet Country Exchange Visit: Improving population health through integrated approaches to physical activity and obesity prevention (Members only meeting)
Physical activity is one of the most cost-effective ways to protect and improve health, reducing risks of cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and depression. Despite strong evidence for the benefits of active lifestyles, 45% of Europeans never exercise or engage in physical activity, and progress towards the EU's 2030 inactivity reduction targets has stalled. Persistent inequalities by age, gender, and socioeconomic status mean that the health burden falls unevenly — and the costs, human and economic, are substantial. Enabling active lifestyles and preventing obesity, therefore, calls for integrated, cross-sectoral action that goes beyond individual behaviour change to reshape environments, services, and governance.
This Country Exchange Visit takes place within a broader European policy context, aligned with the EU 'Healthier Together' Initiative on Non-Communicable Diseases, the EU Safe Hearts Plan, the announced review of the European Council Recommendation on promoting health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) across sectors and the Swiss-Slovak Health Programme under the thematic area of Strengthening Social Systems. Together, these frameworks call for preventive, community-rooted, and regionally anchored approaches to promote physical activity and tackle obesity across the life course.
The Bratislava Self-Governing Region provides a compelling example of how this vision can be put into practice. After more than five years of preparation, the region is now moving its planned Health and Sports Campus in Petržalka into the implementation phase — one of its most historic investments in education, sport, and healthy lifestyle promotion. The campus, soon to be in construction, will create an innovative, integrated hub bringing together secondary education, professional sports training, health-oriented disciplines, disease prevention, and applied research within a unified regional ecosystem. Beyond infrastructure, the Bratislava region is developing a broader approach to enabling active lifestyles and preventing obesity spanning social prescribing, active travel, physical activity promotion in schools, and community-based interventions. Three site visits will be organised to offer a firsthand look at how science, clinical expertise, and public health intersect in Slovakia's approach to physical activity promotion and obesity prevention.
Aims and Objectives
This Country Exchange Visit, hosted by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of investments, regional development and informatization of the Slovak Republic, and the Bratislava Self-Governing Region, will bring together representatives of national and regional public health authorities and related organisations from across EuroHealthNet Partnership to exchange knowledge and experience on integrated approaches to health, physical activity promotion and obesity prevention.
Participants will:
- Explore governance frameworks supporting integrated approaches to health, physical activity, and obesity prevention.
- Examine how education, research, and community-based interventions can contribute to enabling active lifestyles and promoting wellbeing.
- Share and discuss good practices and innovations that foster preventive, person-centred, and locally anchored health promotion.
- Reflect on lessons learned to inform cooperation at European, national, and regional levels, contributing to the implementation of related EU policies and frameworks, and provide input to the health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) Council Recommendation.
- Visit the Biomedical Centre of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the Centre of Active Ageing at the Comenius University to observe a practical example of intersectoral and scientific collaboration.
Practical details:
- EuroHealthNet Country Exchange Visits are member-only events that are open to senior delegates.
- Please note that all participants will be required to invest some time in preparing for the event, for example, by presenting information from their country.
- Country Exchange Visits are held in English. Unfortunately, no interpretation service will be available. Due to the interactive nature of Country Exchange Visits, it is therefore advised that the representative attending feels comfortable exchanging information in English.
- Participants should arrive on Sunday 25 October 2026, as the programme will start on Monday 26 October at 9:00 CET, and are kindly requested to stay until the end of the Country Exchange Visit, on Tuesday, 27 October at 15:00 CET.
- EuroHealthNet can fund the participation (travel and accommodation) of a limited number of members. EuroHealthNet will contact you with confirmation if you can attend on a funded basis. Additional self-funded spots may be available upon request.
The draft agenda for this Country Exchange Visit is available here.
To express your interest to participate, please apply by filling this form no later than 11 September.
If you have any questions, please contact Lina Papartyte at the EuroHealthNet Office.
