11th NAOS Convention and 10th Edition of the NAOS Awards

• The Minister for Health, Social Services and Equality announced that the final stages are in place for the first “Collaboration Plan for the Improvement of the Composition of Food and Beverages in Spain”, a responsible and voluntary commitment to gradually reduce sugar and other nutrients, such as salt and fats, in food.
• “We have managed to slow the increase of childhood and adolescent obesity and reverse the trend (41.3 percent in 2015 compared to 44.5 percent in 2011 according to the Aladino Study conducted by the Aecosan), placing Spain two percentage points below the average for overweight and obesity in the 44 European countries”, declared the Minister.
• “Our responsibility as citizens, educators, professionals, grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles or friends, is to help the youngest members of the population to make decisions of benefit to their health, welfare and ageing”

The Minister for Health, Social Services and Equality, Dolors Montserrat, today closed the ceremony for the award of the 10th Edition of the NAOS Awards, which bring to light initiatives developed by institutions, businesses and professionals from different areas of work in the promotion of physical activity and healthy diets. “At the Ministry, we are working to promote healthy lifestyles and to reach a future without obesity and overweight”, the Minister emphasised.

Dolors Montserrat announced that the first Collaboration Plan for the Improvement of the Composition of Food and Beverages in Spain 2017-2020 is being finalised. This is a voluntary and responsible collaboration to gradually reduce the content of sugar, and other nutrients including salt and fat.

The Minister explained other initiatives of the Ministry to promote a healthy lifestyle including the campaign “Just a little sugar is enough”, which will be released next year. This recommends we read the nutritional information contained in product labelling as this will help us to be more aware of the total sugar we consume. Another campaign was the “Thank you for those first 1000 days”, aimed at promoting a healthy diet and lifestyle during pregnancy, nursing and the first 2 years of the baby's life.

Ms Montserrat also referred to the joint work underway with other European members as part of the European Union Action Plan on Childhood Obesity 2014-2020, with lines of action directed at improving the composition of food by reducing the content of salt, fats and added sugars normally found in the diets of the youngest members of the population.

“In Spain, we have managed to slow the increase of childhood and adolescent obesity, reducing the prevalence of overweight by more than 3 percent (41.3 percent in 2015 compared to 44.5 percent in 2011, according to the Aladino Study conducted by Aecosan), placing Spain two percentage points below the average for overweight and obesity in the 44 European countries according to the HBSC study (The Study on the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children, backed by the WHO)”. Among adults, we have managed clear stabilisation in the prevalence of obesity (National and European Health Surveys)”, underlined the Minister, who wanted to show that Government policies are taking effect and are very positive for the welfare of citizens.

Lastly, the Minister appealed to the collective conscience in the fight against obesity: “Our responsibility as citizens, educators, professionals, grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles or friends, is to help the youngest members of the population to make decisions of benefit to their health, welfare and ageing”

 SPECIAL RECOGNITION FOR MARÍA NEIRA, DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE NAOS

The Minister congratulated all the prize-winners, in particular, Dr Maria Neira (director of the Department of Public Health and the Environment for the World Health Organisation), confirming that this award “recognises her professional excellence as she was the first president of the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and the driving force behind the NAOS Strategy, which is now in its 12th year. Moreover, you are an excellent ambassador for our brand, “Healthy Spain” around the world; a brand that we are creating all together”.

The prize-winners this year include:

1. NAOS Strategy Award for the promotion of healthy eating habits in family and community environments: To the project “Escuela de salud del Ayuntamiento de Tineo (School of Health at Tineo District Council): Un lustro de promoción de la salud en la comunidad” (Promoting health in the Community), submitted by the School of Health of Tineo City Council. Asturias.
2. NAOS Strategy Award for the promotion of physical activity in family and community environments. To the project “Vallecas Activa”, submitted by the City Council of Madrid - Madrid Health - Community of Madrid.
3. NAOS Strategy Award for the promotion of healthy eating habits in schools: To the “Programa de Fomento del Consumo de Fruta y Verdura en la Población Infantil (FASE II)” (Programme for the Promotion of the Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables among children) presented by the Vitoria-Gasteiz Observatory of Nutrition. University of the Basque Country, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea UPV/EHU and Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council.
4. NAOS Strategy Award for the promotion of physical activity in schools. To the project “Promoción de Estilos de Vida Saludables desde el Entorno Escolar (PREVIENE)” (Promotion of healthy lifestyles from schools), presented by the Faculty of Sport Sciences. University of Granada.
5. NAOS Strategy Award in the health environment. To the project “Prescribe Vida Saludable (PVS)” (Prescribing a healthy life), presented by the Bizkaia Primary Health Care Research Unit. Osakidetza. 
6. NAOS Strategy Award in the work environment. To the project “Implementación de un programa de promoción de actividad física y la salud holística en la empresa Única Group (Implementation of a programme for the Promotion of Physical Activity and general health in the company, Unica Group) (Única Activa 2009-16)”, submitted by the Única Group. Almería.
7. NAOS Strategy Award for business initiative To the project “Frutitour”, submitted by Lidl Supermercados S.A.U. Montcada i Reixach (Barcelona).
8. NAOS Strategy award of Special Recognition to Dr María Neira González, for setting up the NAOS Strategy for the prevention of obesity , coordinating the administrations, institutions and sectors in the promotion of a healthy diet and the practice of physical activity.

The 11th Edition of the NAOS Convention was held prior to the prize-giving ceremony. This is a scientific conference organised annually by the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality in which actions promoting a healthy diet and the practice of physical activity are awarded. It was opened by the Secretary-general of Health and Consumer Affairs, Javier Castrodeza.

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