Interventions on diet and physical activity: What Works
Primary Health care
Interventions in the primary health care setting vary greatly in their intensity and thus in their effectiveness. Minimal contact interventions, such as health checks, single visit counselling or information distribution have typically not been effective. Also, individual responses vary depending on stage of “readiness” to behaviour change.
Evidence indicates that activities in this setting are effective for modifying risk factors with moderately intense interventions that provide chronic NCD consultations with follow-up by trained personnel and targeted information.
The potential of this setting in low- or middle-income countries is largely unknown due to lack of systematic research in this area.