Pearl Award for international project studying policies on physical activity

A ZonMw Pearl Award is a prize awarded to particularly successful projects. ‘This can justifiably be regarded as a “pearl”’ of a project’, says Arfan Ikram, chair of ZonMw. ‘Solid international collaboration that has led to specific recommendations, successful implementation and the structural embedding of policy on physical activity. Highly relevant and with far-reaching impact.’ 

The Pearl Award was awarded to the project, including Jeroen Lakerveld, deputy coordinator of the European Policy Evaluation Network (PEN) and senior university lecturer at Amsterdam UMC, on 19 November 2024 at the Annual Meeting of the Amsterdam Public Health research institute. ‘Recognition and encouragement for us researchers not only to seek to understand things, but also to get together with policymakers and look at what needs to happen to bring about practical change’, Lakerveld said in response. 

Fewer than half the people living in the Netherlands get enough exercise. Physical inactivity plays a major role in the development of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. Policy measures can make the living environment more exercise-friendly, and encourage people to take more physical activity. The PA-EPI monitoring tool has been deployed within the Dutch context. Specific recommendations are now available on how to improve national policy on physical activity. 

The environment in which people live plays a key role in stimulating physical activity. ‘Our environment affects our routes and our routines’, explains Lakerveld. This is a challenge for urban design. ‘A green environment with good walking and cycling infrastructure and enough sports facilities encourages people to exercise.’ But he emphasises that it is not only a matter of infrastructure. ‘Think about the importance of physical education at school, media messaging and opportunities to be active in the workplace.’ According to Ikram, this whole-system approach is why the project has had such impact. ‘An individual choice to engage in healthy behaviour is only part of the story’, he says. ‘The environment plays a substantial role, and the government also has a clear part to play.’ 

Policies that tackle physical inactivity can significantly impact on people’s health and wellbeing. It is therefore important to know what policies have actually been implemented in Europe, and what actions have produced the biggest effect. The work of PEN has filled these gaps in the knowledge. A total of 28 research institutes in seven European countries worked together in PEN. ZonMw funded the Dutch researchers working as part of PEN. ‘Research does not stop at national boundaries’, says Ikram. ‘By working together internationally, you can avoid reinventing the wheel. You learn from each other’s good practices and transform them into better or even best practices.’

PEN has developed the PA-EPI, a tool for monitoring the implementation of policy to promote a healthy environment for physical activity. The project has produced a lot of results and new knowledge about how best to implement and evaluate policy in order to achieve optimum results. ‘You need policy and good implementation to create an exercise-friendly environment’, says Lakerveld. ‘The knowledge and tools already exist. We went a step further, systematically measuring how good policy is implemented and where improvements can be made.’ 

The Dutch researchers implemented the PA-EPI in the Netherlands using a ZonMw VIMP grant designed to support dissemination and implementation of results. It issued recommendations to the government as to which policies are most effective in creating a more healthy environment for physical activity. One key aspect of this is the importance of integrated collaboration between ministries and implementing parties covering multiple policy areas. 

This large research project will be rolled out further in the near future. The IMPAQT-project, as it is known, will have an extra focus on ensuring policy on physical activity reaches vulnerable groups. The PA-EPI process will be implemented by several European countries, allowing different countries’ policies to be compared. In the future, the researchers hope to repeat their measurements in the same countries. ‘Regular monitoring will allow us to see what direction policy is moving in’, says Lakerveld. ‘If necessary, we can nudge policymakers back on course.’

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Text: Martijn Tamboer 
Translation: Sue McDonnell
Header image: Laura Ponchel 
Video: Fixvision 
Final editing: ZonMw