Policy options for obesity in Europe: a comparison of public health specialists with other stakeholders

Objective: To explore policy options that public health specialists (PHS) consider appropriate for combating obesity in Europe, and compare their preferences with those of other stakeholders (non-PHS). Design: Structured interviews using multicriteria mapping, a computer-based, decision-support tool. Setting: Nine European countries. Subjects: A total of 189 stakeholders. Twenty-seven interviewees were PHS and non-PHS included food, sports and health sectors. Measurements: A four-step approach was taken, i.e. selecting options, defining criteria, scoring options quantitatively and weighting the criteria to provide overall rankings of options. Interviews were recorded and transcribed to yield qualitative data. Results: The PHS concur with other stakeholders interviewed, as all emphasised the importance of educational initiatives in combating obesity, followed by policies to improve community sports facilities, introduce mandatory food labelling and controlling food and drink advertising. Further analyses revealed several significant differences. The non-PHS from the private sector ranked institutional reforms favourably; the PHS from non-Mediterranean countries supported the option of medicines to prevent obesity; and those PHS from Mediterranean countries endorsed the use of activity monitoring devices such as pedometers. As far as appraisal criteria were concerned, PHS considered efficacy and the economic impact on the public sector to be the most important. Conclusion: There is clear consensus among PHS and other stakeholders concerning the need for a package of policy options, which suggests that European-wide implementation could be successful. However, it would be advisable to avoid more contentious policy options such as taxation until future changes in public opinion.New and Emerging Science and Technology (NEST) research programme (European Union)

Mostar e il ragazzo selvaggio: una chiave di interpretazione

ella ex Iugoslavia degli anni ’90 sono state combattute le uniche guerre “tradizionali” che si siano avute sul continente europeo dopo il 1945. Pertanto i Balcani, ed in particolare la martoriata Bosnia Erzegovina di quegli anni, sono stati naturale ogget-to di interrogazione e anche di indagine scientifica per cercare di capire i motivi per cui dopo decenni di coesistenza pacifica i vari gruppi etnici siano venuti alle armi, e soprattutto per contribuire a dare a questa area un assetto che potesse prevenire nuovi conflitti. Per questo motivo una ricerca sociologica sulle relazioni tra diverse comunità nel Cantone di Mostar è risultata particolarmente preziosa. Nell’articolo che segue dunque vengono sinteticamente presentate le risultanze di quel fieldwork, che anche se non recente pare rappresentare una situazione per certi versi ancora valida oggi, in cui ricompaiono inconfessabili piani per una nuova spartizione del precario edificio prodotto a Dayton 25 anni fa. Ma l’ambizione di questo testo è di presentare tali risultanze secondo una peculiare ottica, che ha come fo-cus il modo in cui la cosiddetta Comunità internazionale, e quindi nello specifico le classi dirigenti dei Paesi occidentali, tendono a vedere le popolazioni balcaniche. Tale approccio, che usa la vicenda reale di uno scienziato francese del Settecento, ci permette di analizzare non solo la realtà di Mostar di questi anni, ma anche disvela come funzionano le scienze sociali della Modernità, nei loro utili punti di forza, ma anche nei loro magari inconsa-pevoli pregiudizi.The Yugoslavia of the 1990s was the theatre of the only “traditional” wars to be fought in Europe since 1945. The Balkans, therefore, in particular the long-suffering Bosnia Herzegovina of those years, have been the natural focus of questions and academicstudies in an effort to understand why, after decades of peaceful co-existence, the various ethnic groups resorted to armed conflict, and above all to contribute to giving the area a configuration able to prevent further conflicts. In this regard a sociological research project on relations between the various communities in the Canton of Mostar has proved particularly valuable. The following article provides a brief presentation of the results of that fieldwork which, though not recent, seems to represent a situation in some ways still extant today, including the reappearance of ignoble plans for a new partition of the precarious edifice produced by the Dayton Accords 25 years ago. But the aim of this article is to present the results in a particular light, focusing on how the so-called international community, or more precisely the ruling classes of the Western countries, tend to view the Balkan peoples. This approach, using the actual experience of an 18th-century French scientist, not only enables us to analyse the recent situation in Mostar, but to shed light on how modern-day social sciences work – in their useful strengths and their (perhaps) unwitting prejudices

I GIOVANI E L'UNIONE EUROPEA: PERCORSI DI SOCIALIZZAZIONE SOVRANAZIONALE NELLA REGIONE FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA

2002/2003XV Ciclo1974Versione digitalizzata della tesi di dottorato cartacea