The Cities for Better Health programme in Krakow will work towards improving awareness and knowledge in selected groups, such as teachers, since they are responsible for providing future generations with knowledge.

Research collaboration

The two cities of Warsaw and Krakow in Poland are collaborating on both the research- and the action phase of Cities for Better Health. This means that local partners from Krakow have joined the Cities for Better Health Warsaw Scientific Council established in 2019. The local partners in Krakow consists of clinicians and patient organizations, and their ambition is to develop interventions to improve the health of the citizens in Krakow.

Cities for Better Health in Poland surveyed more than 4,000 elementary school teachers to determine their attitudes towards and beliefs about healthy eating and diabetes (read the report here). Based on this research, experts from the Lazarski University in Warsaw, the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and the scientific council of the Cities for Better Health programme are designing systematic interventions to improve the health of the Polish population. 

Supporting children and their families 

Cities for Better Health in Krakow is working with the local government to set up a school kitchen for elementary school children with special dietary needs. Children with food allergies, celiac disease, diabetes, phenylketonuria or cystic fibrosis will be referred to the programme by their school principals. The kitchen will be set up at one of the nursing homes and will help meet the needs of families struggling to prepare daily meals that meet specific health and nutritional requirements. The city will finance the kitchen, which is scheduled to open in 2023.  

Educational materials planned for schools 

In collaboration with Jagiellonian University, Cities for Better Health in Krakow is developing a questionnaire survey to determine the precise nutritional needs of students attending Krakow's elementary schools. Educational materials will then be prepared for teachers and schoolchildren on preventing obesity and diabetes. These materials will be in both Polish and Ukrainian to accommodate the foreign students whose families took refuge in Poland following the outbreak of war in Ukraine at the beginning of 2022.  

“As a partner city of the Cities for Better Health programme, we plan to host a kitchen dedicated to students with special dietary needs on the grounds of one of the nursing homes. We believe this will help solve the problems of many families struggling with the cost of preparing meals for their children that meet special health requirements.”

— Elżbieta Kois-Żurek, Director of the Social Policy and Health Department of the City of Krakow