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Networking is exactly where the initiative “Healthy Start” comes in. It is located within the Federal Centre for Nutrition (“Bundeszentrum für Ernährung”), a division of the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food [14]. The go-ahead for the establishment of a nationwide network was given in 2008. The impulse did not come from the top, but from below instead. The participants of a workshop wanted to develop consistent messages regarding the first 1,000 days in a person’s life.

First, they identified the key individuals who are in close contact with young families. Then they invited relevant organizations, institutions, and professional associations to actively design the network, and the initiative attracted increasing attention. Today, the network is supported by professional associations, scientific organizations and institutions, the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and by the National Breastfeeding Commission. Through multipliers, male and female, whom young families trust, the network seeks access to pregnant women and young families.

This is where I see a fourth leverage point for successful prevention and health promotion. Multipliers, mainly doctors and midwives, but also the “early helpers,” such as family midwives, youth and health departments of local authorities with their “welcome visits,” social workers, male and female, and baby pilots – must be interconnected in a network structure [15]. The network thus uses existing structures of healthcare and counselling and places messages for health-promoting diets and sufficient physical exercise. In Germany, statutory screening and early detection examinations for pregnant women, infants, and children (“U-tests”) count among them. Here, disseminators and multipliers meet the target group face-to-face. This approach works well for families of low socioeconomic status and families with a migration background who, compared to their use of other prevention offers, can be addressed quite effectively this way. At any rate, they have been making more frequent use of these offers in recent years.

The important fifth leverage point for a successful strategy leads back to the initial impulse for the network in 2008. The participants in the workshop at that time were interested in uniform recommendations for action. Successful messages require a uniform common language. The message must be clear and it must be communicated consistently, otherwise the effect fizzles out. Translated into a successful strategy to combat malnutrition, it means we need recommendations and calls to action. The network has developed these, regarding diet and lifestyle before and during pregnancy, diet and physical exercise of infants and breastfeeding women, as well as diet and physical exercise in early childhood [16–18]. These recommendations for action are based on the current state of scientific knowledge. They are the central focus of training efforts for disseminators and multipliers in classroom events and in webinars by advisors trained to advise and support young families.

The network has also developed appropriate materials. They enable all participants to cooperate. In addition, there are low-threshold media for parents like apps, flyers, posters, and stickers, some of them available in foreign languages. They translate the recommendations into simple messages, relevant for people’s behavior in everyday life. These media support multipliers during their consultations [14].