local

New Cross Border Obesity Project for Sligo

Local community and healthcare representatives from Sligo, the Northwest and beyond attended an information event in the Aurora Leisure Centre in Letterkenny to hear about a new project to target obesity, being managed by Co-operation and Working Together (CAWT), the cross border health services partnership. Attendees were briefed on how they can become involved in a forthcoming service tendering opportunity for the delivery of family obesity programmes across the border counties. The project was recently awarded European Union INTERREG IVA funding totalling £788,000 (€985,000) to deliver the project across the border region of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

This CAWT Obesity project aims to address the rising concern of childhood obesity by delivering family obesity prevention programmes focusing on children under 5 years, and family obesity management programmes targeting overweight/obese children aged 8-11 years. The project will have 4 pilot sites, with one pilot site located in the HSE West counties of Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim.

Speaking at the event to encourage local participation, Project Manager, Claire McGinley said: “it is great to see so many community and local health representatives from the North West here today. This is a unique opportunity for genuine local participation in a cross border EU funded project. The success of this project is very much dependant on community, voluntary and primary care representatives coming together to improve the health and well-being of local children and families.”
























A service framework for the obesity programmes is being developed and the project will be seeking applications in the coming months from community/voluntary and statutory (primary care) partnerships for delivery of the programmes though a tendering process. Given that obesity is a multifaceted issue, which requires multi-stakeholder involvement, it is expected that local deliverers will secure buy-in and involvement from local partners in the areas of education, sport, council, leisure, healthcare, etc.

Further information on the project and assistance to interested organisations to develop partnerships can be obtained by contacting the Project Manager, Claire McGinley on 00 44 (28) 71 272100 or emailing claire.mcginley@hscni.net