The University of Westminster has expanded its Quintin Hogg Trust (QHT)‑funded Nourish to Flourish (N2F) programme internationally, partnering with Beirut Arab University (BAU). Supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Lebanon office and Lebanon’s Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE), the initiative will now be delivered across the country.
The programme was officially launched in Lebanon on 15 January during an event attended by representatives from all partner organisations, including schools and institutional bodies from across the region.
N2F is an intervention co-created with University of Westminster students and colleagues, led by Dr Raysa El Zein, Dr Xanthi Maragkoudaki and Justin Haroun from the Nutrition and Public Health team in the School of Life Sciences. The initiative aims to support young people’s nutritional and psychological wellbeing through evidence‑based educational activities.
The expansion, now being supervised by Dr Hana Al-Tanir, Assistant Professor of Biology and Biotechnology at BAU, marks the first time the programme has been delivered outside the UK, reflecting growing international interest in school‑based health and wellbeing interventions.
The first phase at BAU focuses on training for nutrition students at the University, followed by a delivery phase in public and private schools as part of integrated health programmes.
In Lebanon, N2F will compliment WHO’s Lebanese campaign, a large-scale mass media initiative that addresses five critical risk-related areas affecting adolescents in Lebanon. These are road safety, physical activity and healthy nutrition, screen time and sleep, the use of harmful products including tobacco, alcohol and drugs (both illicit and prescription medications used without medical supervision), and mental health.
There are currently 18 students at Westminster working on the project and ten students at BAU to facilitate delivery of the intervention in both countries.
The launch attracted media attention in Lebanon, with multiple national outlets covering the event and highlighting the programme’s role in promoting healthier habits among children.
Dr El Zein, who is leading the international collaboration and the N2F team leads at Westminster, said: “With the success of Nourish to Flourish’s first year engaging schools across London and working with pupils from diverse cultural and geographical backgrounds, it became clear that adolescents face similar challenges worldwide. Collaborating with the colleagues and students at BAU and WHO officers in Lebanon aligns perfectly with our University’s commitment to global responsibility and impact. We look forward to building collaborations that promote healthier adolescence in both countries and beyond.”
Dr Racha Hamra, Technical Officer in Healthier Populations at the Lebanon Country Office at WHO, added: “The initiative by BAU to launch the Lebanese version of Nourish to Flourish, in collaboration with Westminster, is closely aligned with the national adolescent health campaign launched in December 2025 by the WHO’s Lebanon Country Office, in partnership with the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The initiative is timely, highly relevant and responds to an urgent need to promote healthier behaviours and safer environments for young people in Lebanon.”
The initiative directly contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3: Good Health and Wellbeing and 17: Partnerships for the Goals. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.
Learn more about Nutrition and Public Health courses at the University of Westminster.
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