Gezond Leven

Flemish Institute for Healthy Living (Gezond Leven)

The Flemish Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention is an expertise centre in health promotion and healthy living offering strategies, methods and programmes, counseling and education to health workers and other professionals, practitioners as well as policy makers.
 
The main tasks are:

  1. Information and consultancy
    • Tailormade advice and consultancy
    • Promoting professionalism in health promotion
    • Documentation service and specialised library
    • Information: website, e-newsletter, policy news bulletin
       
  2. Methods and programmes
    • Development of practical methods and programmes for health promotion professionals
    • On several health topics, e.g. healthy nutrition, physical activity and sedentary behavior.
    • In several settings (e.g. schools, the workplace and municipalities) and for different target groups (e.g. adolescents, elderly, ethnic minorities)
       
  3. Support of local implementation
    • Support of local partners and other intermediairies
    • Co-creation of programmes with partners
    • Coordination and coaching
       
  4. Quality assurance
    • Survey of the health policy on e.g. nutrition and physical activity in schools, workplaces and local municipalities (every 3 years)
    • Evaluation of Gezond Leven methods and programmes
    • Evaluation of partners’ programmes
       
  5. Professional education and training
    • Basic course on health promotion
    • Gezond Leven education programme
    • Tailor made programme
    • Annual symposium on health promotion

Mission

The Flemish Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention aims at the promotion of a healthy lifestyle and a healthy environment, thus contributing to the improvement of the quality of life of all inhabitants of Flanders.

Strategies

  • Support organizations and professionals by offering advice, training, methodologies and strategies
  • Sensitize target populations to participate in the Flemish public health policy
  • Support the local implementation of the Flemish public health policy
  • Advocate a health policy at every level and in all sectors
  • Support collaborations between professionals and other influencers of people´s health

Values

Quality:

  • Gezond Leven guarantees objective and qualitative content through evidence-based methodologies. This implies using good practices from Belgium and abroad, but also creating evidence based content.
  • Gezond Leven is a center of expertise and provides an added value to the sector through education, coaching, lectures and evaluation of interventions.
  • Results are achieved by applying project management and planning. Those suitable for practice can be adapted to local needs.

Innovation:
Gezond Leven is located on the front line when new insights, innovations and best practices occur. Social trends and developments are used to bridge theory and practice. New interventions are piloted before they are implemented in Flanders.

Respect: 
Gezond Leven relies on an important network of partners to realize goals. The collaborations are based on mutual respect. Local needs and feedback are identified through bottom-up work. Methodologies take the diversity of our society into account and aim to reduce health inequalities.

Trust:
A center of expertise for health professionals implies trust. Gezond Leven invests in a customer-centered approach and in a good relationship with media. Ethics are highly valued by the organization. 

Social responsible entrepeneurship:
Practice what you preach. Healthy lunch walks, free fruit at work and sit–to-stand adjustable desks are just a few examples of how Gezond Leven supports a healthy lifestyle for our staff. People, health and sustainability are central for our organization.

 More information

www.gezondleven.be

Participating countries