A MAJOR €8.6 million PEACEPLUS-funded project has been launched to tackle obesity across Ireland, including Fermanagh, where hundreds will benefit from community-based health programmes.
The CAWT Healthier Futures project, supported by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), aims to help 9,000 people change behaviours, improve diet, and increase physical activity across the region.
In the North, the project focuses on adults and families, while in the South it targets children.
It will be delivered in Fermanagh and neighbouring counties including Tyrone, Armagh, Cavan, Monaghan, and Donegal.
Professor Donal O’Shea, Consultant Endocrinologist and National Clinical Lead for Obesity in the HSE, said obesity remains “one of the most significant global health challenges.”
He added that “lifestyle, including exercise and nutrition, is part of weight management and prevention of ill-health.”
People in Fermanagh will have access to weight management and wellbeing initiatives developed in partnership with statutory, community, and voluntary organisations.
The goal is to promote healthier lifestyles and reduce long-term health inequalities.
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said the initiative “promotes healthier lives, reduces health inequalities, and strengthens cross-border collaboration.”
Local reaction to the announcement has been broadly positive.
A spokesperson for Fermanagh-based campaign group Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) said the statement “clearly announces cross-border cooperative work on healthy eating advice and education at a community-based level.”
“We are sure that this will be very beneficial to those people who will have access to the service,” the spokesperson added.
However, SOAS also expressed disappointment that the announcement “falls short of what we knew could be the beginnings of a surgical workforce providing a service which would affect lives across Northern Ireland and far beyond.”