PROMOTING PARTICIPATION IN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, SPORTS AND EXERCISE: A PUBLIC HEALTH PERSPECTIVE

Promoting participation in physical activity, exercise and sports can make an important contribution to the prevention of disease, promotion of health and community well being. Physical inactivity is a central risk factor for many of the most common chronic diseases, notably heart disease, stroke, cancers, type 2 diabetes and mental health. Inactivity is an independent risk factor for these health outcomes and physical activity an important contributor to prevention and treatment of hypertension, blood cholesterol and obesity. In summary, increasing participation in physical activity is a major population health challenge for most countries. It is a relatively new agenda and progress to-date has been slow but there is great potential for approaches that focus on health enhancing physical activity. Systematic reviews provide an indication of current knowledge of what interventions work but there are notable gaps which provide opportunities for the research community. Nonetheless, on the basis of what we do know, there is a clear mandate to implement a population based approach to increase participation and improve health and community wellbeing. The WHO Global Strategy and supporting documents provide us with clear guidance and direction and call for all countries to respond.