It is dramatically obvious that the number of people suffering from both physical and mental problems has been increasing these days. Everyday, all around Europe, frustrating news about people who die and suffer from obesity, cancer, diabetes and intensive stress falls into the agenda and this remarkable and dolorous vision about life has been a crucial stimulus for us to start carrying out such a significant project for specially young people.
This project aims to develop and spread the culture of a healthy lifestyle among European youths with the goal of preventing and fighting overweight, obesity, eating disorders, harmful use of alcohol, doping to reach personal wellness which would lead to a great social impact. As it is known, Presidency of European Commission's health priority in 2011 (report “Closing health gaps within the European Union”) considers main risk factors for a healthy population: inappropriate diet, lack of physical activity, smoking, harmful alcohol and drinking. The partners will work towards a health-promoting school. The partnership is very wide and it includes countries from different EU areas: Italy, Latvia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania and Lithuania.
It will be very useful to compare the situation about risk factors and related diseases in each country, share existing best practices, reflect about how socio-economic determinants could have a bearing on healthy inequities, put into action innovative approaches to the learning /teaching process, gathering knowledge with amusing and “can do” activities and promote wellness in all its aspects. The pupils will be the main actors of this project . In the first year of activity the core of the project will concern the importance of a correct diet and the need of working on the definition of a correct physical activity. The second year will be focused on teenagers’ behavioral world which needs to be considered with a careful eye and the most relevant issues will concern food disorders, free time, alcohol, smoking and doping that will be object of debates, seminaries, and a series of related activities.
Being the main objective to combat obesity, stress and risk behaviors, we’ll:
- Reduce social costs thanks to the adoption of a new shared policy aimed at fighting obesity and promoting wellness.
- Have a closer look into the teenagers’ behavioral world which needs to be considered with a careful eye and the most relevant issues related to food problems, free time, alcohol, smoking and doping will be object of debates and discussions. The students will actively take part in the project planning implementation and evaluation while the teachers will guide them and contribute to enhancing their work
- Advocate community about benefits of a healthy lifestyle;
- Share best practices and learn from others’ experiences;
- Educate for healthy eating habits, relying on the implicit cultural diversity of the project;
- Promote physical activity as a way to achieve well-being and harmonious physical development of our learners;
- Develop foreign language knowledge and receptive and speaking skills among our youths in our partner.