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24.09.2025
Every step counts - building a healthier, more resilient and stronger Europe with physical activity for all
The annual European Week of Sport is running 23rd - 30th September this year celebrating a decade of encouraging Europeans to #BeActive. More than 40 countries were involved last year. Why is it important to address physical activity in JA PreventNCD? Physical activity is one of the major lifestyle determinants of health and wellbeing. Conversely, physical inactivity, not meeting WHO Guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour, remains one of the leading risk factors for cancer and other NCDs. Beyond its disease preventive and therapeutic benefits, regular physical activity improves mental, physical and social wellbeing and overall quality of life. And it helps people to be stronger when facing challenges. Despite the well-known advantages, 1 in 3 European adults still doesn´t meet the recommended physical activity levels. According to the Health-enhancing physical activity in the European Union, 2024 report, while progress has been made, challenges remain, underlining the need for further effort to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour. How is JA PreventNCD contributing to physical activity promotion in Europe? JA PreventNCD is committed to reducing the burden of cancer and other NCDs by addressing determinants of health, including shared risk factors like physical inactivity across sectors and levels. The project covers broad range of activities supporting physical activity promotion on all levels, including: Pilot monitoring physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep National physical activity policy approaches Pilots in local communities to create physical activity friendly environments and conditions Activities and tools that support individuals at risk and individuals that are undergoing rehabilitation to be physically active. Through these and numerous other efforts, JA PreventNCD is making significant contribution to building a healthier, more resilient and stronger Europe - every step counts. Author: Gígja Gunnarsdóttir Gígja is the co-leader of the Health in All Policies work package (WP9), coordinator for the cross-cutting theme "Physical Activity" in the JA PreventNCD and a program manager at the Directorate of Health in Iceland.
https://www.preventncd.eu/newsroom/cross-cutting-themes/every-step-counts-building-a-healthier-more-resilient-and-stronger-europe-with-physical-activity-for-all/
29.05.2026
New campaign to make prevention clearer and more accessible
JA PreventNCD is preparing to launch a new campaign aimed at policymakers, professionals, communities and the wider public, helping more people understand what prevention is about and why healthier choices must be made easier, fairer and more accessible for everyone. The campaign will be presented during the JA PreventNCD General Assembly in Rome, taking place from 9–11 June 2026 at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. The General Assembly will bring partners together to share project achievements, reflect on progress and discuss the way forward for strengthening prevention across Europe. The launch session, “Campaigns as a Strategic Tool in Today’s Attention Economy: Premiere of JA PreventNCD’s New Campaign,” will be presented by Live Bøe Johannesen from the Norwegian Directorate of Health. The campaign focuses on four major shared risk factors for cancer and other non-communicable diseases: alcohol, tobacco and nicotine, nutrition and physical activity. It uses clear, accessible and motivating messages to show how prevention is connected to everyday life, from what people eat and how active they are to the environments, products, policies and communities that shape health. To learn more about the thinking behind the campaign, we spoke with Thea Nørgaard Breili from the Norwegian Directorate of Health, project leader of the campaign, about its aims, messages and development process. Can you briefly introduce the new JA PreventNCD campaign and explain what it aims to achieve? "The campaign aims to put prevention of NCDs on the agenda for both stakeholders, policymakers and general public. We aim to increase awareness of the benefits of prevention, highlight accessible measures that can be implemented, and strengthen public support for potential interventions. Non-communicable diseases are often discussed using specialised public health terminology, but many of the risk factors are closely connected to everyday life. What people eat, how active they are, whether tobacco, nicotine or alcohol products are widely available, and how communities are planned all influence health. The campaign shows that prevention is not only about telling individuals to change their behaviour. It is also about creating healthier environments through policy, regulation, planning, services and community action." What are the campaign’s key messages? "The key message shared across the campaign is that through small changes, whether structural or personal, we can all contribute to better health, both in the short and long term. This applies to stakeholders, policymakers and the general public. The campaign shows that everyone has a role to play, from those shaping policies and environments to individuals and communities taking practical steps in everyday life." The campaign was developed in close collaboration with participating member countries. How did that collaboration shape the final concept and messaging? "The collaboration helped us see prevention from many different perspectives. JA PreventNCD brings together partners from across Europe, and that diversity has been important in shaping a campaign that can appeal to a broader audience. At the same time, the collaboration pushed us to define and prioritise a shared direction that all partners could support and work towards together. Through this process, we identified a set of unifying and important messages that strengthen both the collaboration and the overall communication of the project." How did you balance the need for a shared European campaign with different national contexts, languages and public health priorities? "JA PreventNCD has chosen to focus on four shared risk factors: alcohol, tobacco and nicotine, nutrition and physical activity. This gives us a common starting point that all partners can recognise and build from. Based on this, and in close cooperation with the thematic coordinators, we developed simple and important messages that are aligned with research and evidence, while still being easy to understand and motivating for the audience. Creating messages that are relevant across different countries and public health priorities can be challenging. But this process helped us lift our gaze and focus on the overarching messages that apply across contexts. To make the material more inclusive, we included different ethnicities, personalities and characters while keeping one clear storyline. The animated world also gives us more freedom in how we show the setting. It does not have to be one specific real place, or it could be anywhere. The film includes elements such as a city, suburban areas, trees, roads, parks and houses, with the idea that it should not be too clear whether we are in Northern or Southern Europe."
https://www.preventncd.eu/newsroom/interviews/new-campaign-to-make-prevention-clearer-and-more-accessible/
20.05.2026
The Great Challenge: developing a digital tool for active workplaces
The Great Challenge is a health psychology-based intervention being developed in France to promote physical activity among workers. Over a four-week period, participating employees are encouraged to accumulate as many “energy cubes” as possible, with each cube representing 15 minutes of continuous physical activity. To encourage social motivation and collective participation, cubes are doubled when activities are carried out with colleagues. At the centre of the intervention is a dedicated mobile application, currently under development, designed to support collaborative engagement across participating organisations. The concept brings together all participants within the “Great Challenge Community”, while also allowing each person to contribute to progress at three collective levels: their team, their organisation and the wider community of participating organisations. This approach aims to strengthen motivation by shifting the focus from individual responsibility alone towards shared goals and collective encouragement. By making movement more social, visible and connected to workplace culture, The Great Challenge may be particularly useful for engaging people who are less physically active or who find it difficult to include movement in their daily routines. The application is being designed to include an energy cube counter, where participants can log minutes of physical activity and see them automatically converted into cubes. In addition to personal tracking, the app will allow users to visualise collective progress in real time at team, organisational and community levels. Planned features also include a visual calendar showing daily cube accumulation, scheduled physical activity events organised by teams or workplaces, and supporting resources such as videos, podcasts and information about local sports or physical activity opportunities. A dynamic feed is also expected to help maintain engagement throughout the challenge period. The Great Challenge mobile application is currently in development and is expected to become available soon. Further updates will be shared as the application progresses, including information on availability and how organisations can get involved.
https://www.preventncd.eu/newsroom/news-updates/the-great-challenge-developing-a-digital-tool-for-active-workplaces/
20.05.2026
Putting Europe in motion
This article will be included in the Healthy Living Environment Newsletter. You can subscribe here to stay updated. Across Europe, a growing movement is redefining how physical activity is understood in public health. No longer seen simply as an individual lifestyle choice, movement is increasingly being approached as a collective, environmental and lifelong issue –shaped by schools, neighbourhoods, workplaces, families and local communities. Within the European Joint Action JA PreventNCD, innovative pilot actions that aim to make active living more accessible, inclusive and sustainable across all stages of life are being developed. From digital tools helping adolescents discover enjoyable forms of movement, to community walking initiatives for older adults, workplace challenges promoting team-based activity and local platforms connecting citizens with healthy opportunities in their area, the initiative reflects a shared European ambition: embedding movement into everyday life. Between 2010 and 2022, around 25% of the population in the WHO European Region was insufficiently active. Prevalence varies widely between countries, ranging from 8.4% to 51.6%, reflecting strong territorial and social inequalities in access to opportunities for physical activity. While progress has been uneven, 17 countries - mostly within the EU14 - have already achieved early the target of a 15% reduction in inactivity by 2030.
https://www.preventncd.eu/newsroom/news-updates/putting-europe-in-motion/
04.05.2026
Health in All Policies: aligning decisions across society with public health
This article is part of a special series for European Public Health Week, highlighting how JA PreventNCD contributes to each of this year’s daily themes and supports stronger prevention across Europe. European Public Health Week is taking place this week, with this year’s overarching theme focusing on investing for sustainable health and well-being. The week opened with a daily theme that is highly relevant to JA PreventNCD: aligning all policies with public health. This theme is closely connected to one of the central ideas behind JA PreventNCD: preventing major chronic diseases requires action far beyond the healthcare system. Many of Europe’s greatest health challenges, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases and mental health conditions, are often referred to as non-communicable diseases, or NCDs. Unlike infectious diseases, they are not passed directly from person to person, but they are strongly shaped by the environments people live in and the conditions that influence everyday choices. The food available to people, the way cities are planned, opportunities for physical activity, working conditions, education, housing, transport, environmental quality and social support all affect health and well-being. This idea is at the heart of Health in All Policies, which is an important part of JA PreventNCD’s work. Following the recent Wellbeing Economy Forum in Reykjavík, where participants explored how societies can redefine success around health, well-being and sustainability, the theme feels especially timely. To mark European Public Health Week, we spoke with Katri Sääksjärvi, from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), who leads the Health in All Policies work in JA PreventNCD, about why this approach matters and how it can support stronger prevention across Europe.
https://www.preventncd.eu/newsroom/news-updates/health-in-all-policies-aligning-decisions-across-society-with-public-health/
29.04.2026
Health-Friendly Companies
This editorial is featured in the Healthy Living Environment Newsletter #2. You can subscribe here to stay updated. Cancer and other chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) represent a significant part of the disease burden in Europe, much of which is preventable. The Joint Action to Prevent Non-communicable Diseases (JA PreventNCD) is designed to address this challenge by supporting strategies and policies aimed at reducing the burden of cancer and NCDs, focusing on personal and social risk factors. The task for “Increasing availability of healthy products” mobilize actions on the determinants of health through the political commitment by intersectoral policies and the participation of the community at local level; promoting social cohesion to co-create actions for healthy living environments with equity perspective. The workplace, where people spend a large part of their time and their entire lives, is precisely the area where personal and environmental factors related to health habits either confront or positively combine. This clash of personal habits and health conditions in the work environment can have a synergistic effect on the individual in both a good and a bad direction. However, the fact is that it is easier to spoil the good habits of an individual if there are no supporting conditions, than to expect that all healthy habits will survive and that the individual will positively influence the problematic work environment and change it for the better. Therefore, the intervention of society (workplace, employer, local or national government) is indispensable for positive developments in preserving the health of the individual and society as a whole. The specific objectives we are focused on are: to implement workplace policies that will contribute to the workers opting for the healthier choice, reduce health inequalities, reduce the availability of alcohol and smoking and encourage physical activity and a socially acceptable work environment.
https://www.preventncd.eu/newsroom/editorials/health-friendly-companies/
22.04.2026
Visit of JA PreventNCD experts in Rybnik
How does the environment we live in affect our health? And how can we design cities to better support the wellbeing of their residents? These were the questions we explored during the visit of JA PreventNCD experts in Rybnik. Nowadays, around 75% of European Union residents live in cities and urban areas, and this share is expected to rise to 78% by 20501 . Cities are hubs of development and innovation, but they also come with numerous health challenges – such as air pollution, noise, physical inactivity, and social isolation. These factors increase the risk of non‑communicable diseases. At the same time, urban spaces offer significant opportunities to improve health and quality of life. Urban greenery, nature‑based solutions, and pedestrian‑friendly areas can reduce environmental stressors, encourage physical activity, and strengthen social connections. The key challenge, however, is ensuring that such benefits are accessible to all residents equally. That is why, on 13-14 April, the Regional Education Centre in Rybnik hosted a visit from JA PreventNCD representatives from the University of Rennes in France and the University of Turin in Italy, carried out as part of Work Package 6 – Healthy Living Environment. The City of Rybnik, together with Rennes and Turin, is participating in the testing of two tools supporting urban environment planning, which were piloted during the visit. The meeting was organised and hosted by Monika Kubisz on behalf of the City of Rybnik and brought together all Polish project partners. The Medical University of Silesia was represented by Katarzyna Brukało, PhD, Assoc. Prof. at the Medical University of Silesia and Anna Rogalska, MD. The meeting was attended by experts Anne Roué Le Gall and Virginie Loizeau from the University of Rennes (France) and Andrej Čikvari from the University of Turin (Italy). Numerous representatives of the Rybnik City Hall and its organisational units also participated, including the Department of Social Policy, the City Development Department, the Department of Digitalisation and New Technologies, the Centre for Sustainable Urban Development, the Municipal Greenery Authority, the Municipal Urban Planning Department, the Municipal Sports and Recreation Centre, and the Social Welfare Centre. The event also brought together representatives of the Health and Social Policy Comission of the Rybnik City Council, the Rybnik Seniors’ Council, and the Water and Sewage Company. Additionally, representatives of the City of Zabrze and the Foundation for Natural Development took part in the meeting. On the first day, the My Green Space tool was presented. It is designed to assess the impact of green areas on the health of city residents. The tool makes it possible to collect and analyse data on urban green spaces and their health‑promoting potential. It also allows the visualisation of how these areas are distributed across the city and to what extent they address different health needs of the population. In practice, this means that local governments will be able to plan the development of parks, squares, and other green areas more effectively – not only by increasing their number, but also by improving their quality and functionality. During the meeting, it was emphasised that what matters is not only the presence of green spaces, but also their accessibility and attractiveness. Accessibility includes, for example, convenient transport connections, a sufficient number of entry points, and infrastructure adapted to the needs of different users. Attractiveness relates to elements such as safety, cleanliness, lighting, and the availability of basic amenities. The tool was presented by Anne Roué Le Gall and Virginie Loizeau, and then tested in Adam Fudali Park in Rybnik. Participants also visited the historic Ignacy Mine – an example of a successful transformation of a post‑industrial site. On the second day, Andrej Čikvari from the University of Turin presented the Nature‑Based Solutions for Healthy Urban Environments (NBS4HUE) tool. It supports the selection of nature‑based solutions tailored to specific local conditions. The tool was designed for urban planners, local authorities, researchers, and other stakeholders involved in city development. It enables the analysis and comparison of different solutions, taking into account their impact on health, the environment, and the quality of life of residents. It is important to note that NBS4HUE does not indicate a single “best” decision. Its purpose is to support an informed decision‑making process by presenting available options and their potential effects. The results are based on scientific evidence and should be interpreted with consideration of local conditions. To conclude the visit, the participants were shown how the two tools can complement each other, creating a coherent approach to planning healthy urban environments. The visit to Rybnik was an important stage in their testing, and the experiences and feedback gathered will support further refinement of the tools and their better adaptation to different cities across Europe. 1. Public opinion on urban challenges and investment in cities - Eurobarometer survey
https://www.preventncd.eu/newsroom/news-updates/visit-of-ja-preventncd-experts-in-rybnik/