OPPORTUNITIES FOR HEALTH PROMOTION - THE KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION-SYSTEM OF THE VALENCIAN FOOD SECTOR, SPAIN

Valencia (Spain) is participating in the international 'SUPER project' , which promotes healthy eating behaviour. This project is carried out on local and regional levels to support activities and policy decisio ns. To facilitate the development of this project as an intersectoral collaboration between organisations and associations of different sect ors related to nutrition, the knowledge and information system of the food sector in the Valencia region was assessed, using the 'rapid appr aisal of agricultural knowledge systems' method (RAAKS). Key persons o f organisations and institutions of eight sectors related to the food sector were interviewed: research, education, food production and dist ribution, the health sector, consumers, policy-makers, consumer organi sations and mass media. Through the analysis of the interviews, knowle dge types related to nutrition were located and relationships identifi ed The 'matriz de impactos cruzados multiplicacion aplicada a una clas ification' (matrix of cross impact; applied product to a classificatio n) or MICMAC technique was used to determine the organisations in whic h interventions would have the biggest impact. The results showed that little contact exists between key organisations, and that the exchang e of information among organisations needs to be improved. The researc h underscored the general interest and willingness of the interviewees to work together, and identified two institutes as ideal stimulators of the project. The constraints that became obvious were: (i) the lack of contact between organisations linked to the food sector; (ii) that the research institute ( Valencian School of Public Health. IVESP) wa s the main driving force behind the project, rather than a consortium of participating organisations; and (iii) the lack of involvement of f ood producers. In two workshops in which the eight sectors were repres ented, the results were presented and the opportunities and constraint s discussed. As a result, the sector representatives formed a steering group which elaborated general guidelines for healthy food promotion pro grammes and recommended the use of the already established Regiona l Healthy Cities Network as a framework for the project to guarantee t he cities' interest in the health of their population and to encourage the establishment of healthy food policies at a local and regional le vel.