Growing Commitment towards Physical Activity

Both, the WHO Regional Office of Europe and the European Commission emphasise the importance of physical activity to counteract the growth of non-communicable diseases.

The World Health Organisation is currently developing a European Physical Activity Strategy for the years 2016 to 2025 and invited stakeholders to comment on the current draft of the strategy.

ICSSPE had been invited to attend a stakeholder meeting which was held 30 January 2015 upon invitation by the Government of Malta.

Parallel to WHO's initiative, the European Commission provides opportunities for expert organisations in health-enhancing physical acitivity to contribute to the policy work of the Directorate-General for Education and Culture.

Detlef Dumon, ICSSPE Executive Director, expressed the organisation's appreciation to the recognition of the importance of physical activity by WHO member states as well as by the European Commission.

"Despite the principal agreement by different stakeholders to react jointly to a growing sedentary lifestyle, we continue to note unanswered questions regarding strategies and responsibilities. The commitment to become a proactive supporter of an active lifestyle demands in many cases a policy change as well as decisions on internal missions and mandates. It is for everybody to reflect and to decide how he or she can contribute to a physically active society. This includes the education, health and the city development sectors, as well as the sport movement. Physical activity at school needs to be integrated into mathematics, literacy and science classes, and physical educators are asked to increase the time of quality physical activity during class and motivate for lifelong physical activity; the health sector should encourage school headteachers to increase activity opportunities; and city planners need to ensure not only access to sport facilities, but also physically active and safe movement opportunities within communities."

Being an active contributor to these strategic activities, ICSSPE observes a strong demand for a mutual understanding of used terminology in different languages, cultures, traditions and sectors and offers ongoing support to reach a common understanding and to join forces.

For further information, please contact Detlef Dumon at ddumonicsspe.org or Richard Bailey at rbaileyicsspe.org