What is it about?
The aim of this paper was to assess the status and trends in physical activity surveillance, policy, and research in 164 countries. We found that 49.6 million people are without physical activity surveillance, 629.4 million people are without physical activity policy, and 108.7 million live in countries without any physical activity research output. A total of 6.3 billion people or 88.2% of the world’s population live in countries where PA promotion capacity should be significantly improved.
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Why is it important?
Despite physical activity being essential for health and having tremendous benefits for society (e.g. transport, mental wellbeing, reduced hospitalisations), there are large inequalities between countries and world regions in their capacity to promote physical activity. Coordinated efforts are needed to reduce the inequalities and improve the global capacity for physical activity promotion.
Perspectives
The Global Observatory for Physical Activity is a great platform to bring advocates interested in physical activity together. This paper highlights there is much to do in physical activity policy, surveillance, research and advocacy globally, especially to reduce inequities.
Dr Matthew Mclaughlin
University of Western Australia
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Status and Trends of Physical Activity Surveillance, Policy, and Research in 164 Countries: Findings From the Global Observatory for Physical Activity—GoPA! 2015 and 2020 Surveys, Journal of Physical Activity and Health, January 2022, Human Kinetics,
DOI: 10.1123/jpah.2022-0464.
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