YHP Slovenia

Location

National

 

Timing

#Curious4health 1.0: October 2020 - 2023

#Curious4health 2.0: December 2023 - 2025

#Curious4health 3.0: April 2026 - December 2028

 

The local context

Childhood obesity is a pressing public health issue in Slovenia and a key driver of future non-communicable diseases (NCDs). National surveillance shows that nearly one in four Slovenian children and adolescents are affected: NIJZ reports that 24.9 % of 6–15‑year‑olds were living with overweight or obesity in 2022.1 

Recent WHO COSI monitoring (2022–2024) confirms that Slovenia's prevalence sits close to the European average (around 26% with excess weight and 11–12% with obesity), yet rates have risen significantly among both boys and girls since the pre-pandemic period.2 Longer-term analyses reinforce the urgency, with today's figures remaining far higher than three decades ago.3

Addressing this trajectory requires early, sustained action. Slovenia's National Nutrition and Physical Activity Strategy 2015–2025 is still in progress, and a new multisectoral strategy is currently under development that will broaden the focus to include sleep behaviours alongside diet quality, daily physical activity, and reduced sedentary time in schools and communities.4

 

Our objectives

To educate and motivate young people to adopt healthier lifestyle behaviours that will reduce the risks of NCDs in later life. 

To reach ~37,000 young people through primary and secondary schools and promote healthy eating, increase daily physical activity, reduce sedentary time, and strengthen health literacy.

 

Our focus

YHP Slovenia focuses on empowering young people to make informed choices about their diet and physical activity, building the knowledge, skills and confidence needed for healthier lives.

Our programme

Through the Programme, #Curious4Health3.0, a series of engaging and child-friendly face-to-face and digital learning tools deliver key messages on healthy lifestyle behaviour. All content has been developed in collaboration with teachers, healthcare professionals and other experts, and is designed to support the national curriculum.

From 2026 to 2028, greater emphasis will be placed on face-to-face activities in schools and communities, with targeted support where it is most needed

In primary schools, we run simple, fun sessions on food, sugar and screen time, and add quick movement breaks and friendly class challenges.

In secondary schools, students take the lead with debates, mini‑campaigns, activity events and wellbeing sessions.

The Programme also continues with the National Diabetes Knowledge Competition and Razgibani kviz - a movement‑based quiz that makes learning active and fun.

Our achievements

Since the start of the programme, to the end of 2025 we have:

  • reached over 900,000 young people with information on healthy lifestyle behaviours
  • trained over 90,000 Peer Educators
  • and trained over 40,000 healthcare professionals and other adults.

Our partners

The Slovenian Diabetes Association (SLODA) was established in 1956. It has 18,000 members across 40 towns throughout the country. The Association’s mission is to raise awareness, inform and educate members, their relatives and the wider community on diabetes and it's possible consequences. The Association makes particular effort to educate and inspire young people to embrace healthy behaviours that will avoid diabetes in the longer term. 

For more information visit: http://www.diabetes-zveza.si

References:

1. Nacionalni inštitut za javno zdravje (NIJZ). Za zmanjšanje prekomerne prehranjenosti otrok in mladostnikov naj šteje cel dan [For reducing excessive adiposity among children and adolescents, the whole day counts] Available at:  https://nijz.si/zivljenjski-slog/24-urno-gibalno-vedenje-zivljenjski-slog/za-zmanjsanje-prekomerne-prehranjenosti-otrok-in-mladostnikov-naj-steje-cel-dan

2. WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI): report on the sixth round of data collection, 2022– 2024. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2025. Licence: Available at: https://iris.who.int/server/api/core/bitstreams/8ee17a15-aa52-421e-94d1-892c3cf191e8/content

3. Sorić, M., Jurak, G., Đurić, S. et al. Increasing trends in childhood overweight have mostly reversed: 30 years of continuous surveillance of Slovenian youth. Sci Rep 10, 11022 (2020).

4. European Commission, State of Health in the EU, Slovenia, Country Health Profile 2025. Available at: https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2025/12/country-health-profile-2025-country-notes_7e72146d/slovenia_27d174ae/4765833c-en.pdf