Skip to main content
Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPSLeibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS

WHO Forum of Collaborating Centres: BIPS participates in first global meeting in Lyon

Epidemiological Methods and Etiological Research News

The World Health Organization (WHO) has convened the first Global Forum of its WHO Collaborating Centres in Lyon. Representatives from more than 800 scientific institutions across over 80 countries gathered to discuss current global health challenges and the future of international cooperation in research and public health.

[Translate to Englisch:] Menschenmenge sitzt in großem Raum.

The Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS participated in the meeting as WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention, Nutrition and Physical Activity. The forum focused on strengthening international scientific collaboration, supporting evidence-informed health policy and developing new approaches to preparedness for future health crises.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the Collaborating Centres network as a key but underused resource for global health. He said the institutions play an important role in translating scientific evidence into action to strengthen health systems and protect populations.

The forum was held as part of the World Health Day 2026 campaign under the theme “Together for health. Stand with science.” WHO announced that the next Global Forum will take place in 2027.

BIPS as a WHO Collaborating Centre

BIPS has served as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention, Nutrition and Physical Activity since 2016. The collaboration focuses particularly on the prevention of childhood overweight and obesity as well as on nutrition and physical activity.

As part of this work, BIPS contributes to the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI), which collects standardized data on children’s height and weight to improve monitoring and comparability of overweight and obesity trends across countries. BIPS conducts COSI in the federal state of Bremen and is currently the only institution contributing German data to the WHO European study.

In addition, BIPS supports WHO in analysing data on physical activity and childhood obesity and in developing surveillance methods and monitoring tools. Other areas of collaboration include the use of geospatial data in public health research, the development of training platforms on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and the international harmonization of public health data related to nutrition, physical activity and obesity prevention.