Objective: To explore the opinions of stakeholders on the potential of taxes or subsidies, as measures for tackling obesity in Europe.Design: Structured interviews using Multi-criteria Mapping, a computer based decision support tool. Subjects/Setting: 189 interviewees, drawn from 21 different stakeholder categories in institutionally matched groups across nine members of the EU.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: Taxation and subsidies were not favourably received, because they were considered difficult to implement. However, representatives of large commercial retail chains and public health professionals were most in favour of taxation, whilst representatives of public sector catering and nutritional/obesity advisory experts gave the most positive ratings to subsidies, and the trade unions rated both options more favourably than other stakeholder groups. In contrast, both options received their lowest scores from representatives of the farming industry, town and transport planners, the food processing industry and the advertising industry. Public health professionals were the stakeholders most frequently gaving the highest scores (3/9 countries), both for taxation (Italy, Spain and France) and for subsidies (Spain, France and Poland). Finland produced the greatest number of interviewees rating both fiscal options favourably. Conclusions:A decision to apply economic measures such as taxes/subsidies in the EU represents one possibly viable course of action, as part of an integrated and coherent public policy aimed at combating obesity.4

This study aims to explore and compare Brazilian public institutional food services’ characteristics concerning the implementation of the government policy for the procurement of food from family farming (FF) and the opinions of food service managers on the benefits and difficulties of its implementation. We conducted a cross-sectional study employing an online questionnaire. The results were stratified by purchase. The Chi-square and Fisher’s Exact tests were applied. Five hundred forty-one food services’ managers participated in the study. Most claimed to buy food from FF, and this acquisition was more frequent among those working in institutions of municipalities <50,000 inhabitants, and educational and self-managed institutions. Those buying from FF developed more actions to promote healthy and sustainable food. Most recognized that the purchase could boost local farming and the economy and improve the institution’s food. However, the managers believe that the productive capacity of FF, the lack of technical assistance to farmers, production seasonality, and the bureaucratic procurement process hinder this type of purchase. The self-management of food services and the small size of the municipality might be associated with implementing the direct purchase policy from FF, which can contribute to building healthier and more sustainable food systems. However, the lack of public management support and the weak productive fabric may pose an obstacle to its maintenance or dissemination. The strengthening and consolidation of these policies require more significant government investments in productive infrastructure for family farming.

Objective To gather consensus on professional competencies and basic public health content for the degree program in Human Nutrition and Dietetics (HND). Design In 2018, the Fifth Meeting of University Public Health Professors took place in Zaragoza (Spain). Fourteen lecturers in the HND degree program participated from 11 Spanish universities. They identified competencies and basic content for training for the HND degree using group dynamics and consensus strategies. Results The professors identified 51 basic competencies, distributed in the areas of “evaluation of population health needs” (n = 20), “development of health policies” (n = 23), and “guaranteeing provision of health care services” (n = 8). In order to reach these competencies, 35 topics were proposed organized into six thematic blocks: foundations of public health, nutritional epidemiology, health problems and diet and nutrition strategies, food security, health in all policies and health promotion and education. Conclusion The consensus reached serves as a reference to orient and update public health education as a part of the HND degree.