Overview #
Vivons en Forme (VIF) is a social marketing programme for healthier lifestyles in French communities. The programme helps local authorities improve nutrition, physical activity and wellbeing among children, families and older adults. VIF partners with municipalities to design interventions tailored to local needs, reduce health inequalities and encourage sustainable behaviour change through practical, community-based action.
Abstract #
Vivons en Forme (VIF) is the latest evolution of a community-based approach to health promotion. It began with the Fleurbaix-Laventie Ville Santé (FLVS) study, a longitudinal intervention launched in northern France in 1992. The FLVS study demonstrated that engaging schools, families, healthcare professionals, local authorities and community organisations in coordinated action could contribute to improvements in dietary behaviours. It also helped curb childhood overweight and obesity. These findings provided the scientific foundation for the EPODE (Ensemble Prévenons l’Obésité Des Enfants) methodology. France launched EPODE nationally in 2004, and it was later adopted internationally.
Building on more than two decades of implementation experience, VIF launched in 2011 to broaden this approach beyond childhood obesity prevention. Its focus expanded towards the promotion of healthy eating, physical activity, wellbeing and the reduction of health inequalities across the life course. While retaining the core principles of EPODE: political commitment, cross-sector partnerships, social marketing and local coordination, VIF has strengthened its methodology through behavioural science, co-creation with target audiences, living-lab testing and continuous evaluation.
A key lesson from this 30-year journey is that information campaigns alone cannot achieve sustainable behaviour change. Lasting population-level impact depends on understanding people’s lived realities and mobilising local ecosystems. It also requires embedding evidence-based interventions within municipal policies and everyday community settings. The evolution from FLVS to EPODE and now VIF illustrates how programme teams can integrate scientific research, implementation science and social marketing into a scalable and adaptable model for improving public health. The programme continues to create a lasting impact, supporting over 300 municipalities in 2026.
Access #
Sophie McGannan (sophie.mcgannan@vivonsenforme.org), Vivons en Forme
The VIF program: Renewing community-based interventions to target more efficiently
Location #
France
Key words #
Social marketing, health promotion, community-based intervention, childhood obesity, EPODE methodology, health inequalities
