"Community projects" in Modena (Italy): promote regular physical activity and healthy nutrition habits since childhood.

Lack of exercise and unhealthy diets are two of the most important risk factors to develop overweight, obesity and other chronic diseases. The school plays a key role in the promotion of lifelong healthy habits in children and their families. Every intervention at school level will need to be matched by changes in the social and cultural context so that the benefits can be sustained and enhanced in the community. We promoted healthy nutrition and a regular physical activity in schools and in local communities, through multifaceted interventions, which involved more than 10,000 children and about 100,000 adults.