[Evaluation of the basic health care pilot project of the Turnhout area]

A primary health care project was started two years ago by the PIH in collaboration with the health councils of ten municipalities in the region of Turnhout. The objective was to promote actions on better health that were beyond the capacity of existing regional health care facilities. The project is managed by representatives of the province and of the ten municipalities. The first subject for coordinated action was healthy eating. Three practical projects were developed: a salt concentration analysis of bread from 150 bakeries; a quality evaluation of the deep fat from 110 french fry stands and a secondary school programme entitled "Eat Healthy". A new concept of project development was proposed after the first study. 4 steps have to be considered in the future, which are: first to quantify the amount of the suspected health care problem in the region; secondly to activate an intervention strategy which tends to limit to suggest and initiate long term policy actions. Findings of the to suggest and initiate long term policy actions. Findings of the first project show that to obtain the desired results a well conceived information campaign is essential.