Mondelēz International Foundation Publishes Study on Childhood Obesity
A new study on the impact of Mondelēz International Foundation healthy lifestyles initiatives identified key factors that have led to successful public-private partnerships across seven countries.
The study is referring to countries in Asia (China and India), in Africa (South Africa), in Europe (Germany, United Kingdom), and in Latin America (Brazil and Mexico) and it is published in the June edition of Food and Nutrition Bulletin.
The research was conducted by Dr. Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, professor of public health and director, Office of Public Health Practice at the Yale School of Public Health, and funded by the foundation. The independent analysis is titled “Innovative Healthy Lifestyles School-Based Public-Private Partnerships Designed to Curb the Childhood Obesity Epidemic Globally: Lessons Learned from the Mondelēz International Foundation”. It identifies key factors that have led to successful public-private partnerships across seven countries.
For more than nine years, the Mondelēz International Foundation has partnered with non-profit organizations across the world to support the delivery and evaluation of school-based healthy lifestyle programs. The findings published today provide learnings on how future public-private partnerships seeking to promote healthy lifestyles and help curb the risk of obesity can successfully be established.
“The Foundation and its partners around the world have created an effective framework for healthy lifestyle school-based public-private partnerships,” said Pérez-Escamilla. “As outlined in the paper, there is strong evidence that shows programs across all five continents are having a positive impact on nutrition and physical activity knowledge and practices.”
Qualitative data used to evaluate the foundation’s partnerships were collected from two program evaluation workshops in 2013 and 2016, as well as from the foundation’s annual country reports and project report, and interviews with key leaders from each program.
“Through effective partnerships with locally based organizations, we’ve transformed the lives of millions of children and families around the globe by improving nutrition knowledge, physical activity and access to fresh produce,” said Sarah Delea, president of the Mondelēz International Foundation. “We’re inspired by the change we’ve seen in those programs and hope that Dr. Pérez-Escamilla’s study in Food and Nutrition Bulletin will inspire others to make an impact through public-private partnerships.”
Supporting this review, data from program reports and surveys commissioned by partner organizations between 2014 through 2016 also indicated solid progress in both knowledge and behavior change, according to the study. Specifically, across the foundation programs, there was a 12% increase in understanding what good nutrition is, including knowing the number of fruits and vegetables to eat daily; a 6% increase in physical activity to at least 30 minutes daily; and an 11% increase in eating more fruits, vegetables and other fresh foods, as part of the gardening programs.