ICSSPE Supports Paediatricians to Increase Knowledge of Energy Balance and Physical Activity

ICSSPE supports the Excellence in Paediatrics (EiP) Institute - a non-profit organisation that unites paediatricians around the world - in its latest initiative called the PEARL Project, to help promote energy balance and physical activity amongst children and families.

In addition to ICSSPE, PEARL is supported by many of the key stakeholders in the energy balance and physical activity field, including the International School Health Network (ISHN), American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the EPODE International Network, and the International Association of Physical Education and Sports for Girls and Women (IAPESGW).

The obesity epidemic on the rise across the globe is a startling consequence of poor diets and the lack of physical activities. The PEARL Project’s long-term aim is to tackle this by providing free-to-view eLearnings to healthcare professionals around the world as well as holding an annual summit that charges global experts and national delegations to commit to, and action, change at the national level during 2014.

The clear objective of the 2013 PEARL Summit, taking place in Doha, Qatar during EIP’s Annual Conference (4-7 December), is the promotion of physical activity among children and adolescents. The Summit highlights the critical need to bring together physical activity experts and advocates with frontline paediatricians. By creating this link PEARL will provide practitioners with the ability to effectively spread the message and benefits of physical activity to the next generation. Alongside the Summit, EIP also accepts abstracts on physical activity for their main annual conference, giving the 50 best abstract submitters the chance to win a free place at the EiP Conference in Qatar this December. Further details can be viewed at: http://pearl.excellence-in-paediatrics.org/content/page/36/abstract-subm...

Ultimately, PEARL aims to educate at least 5,000 healthcare professionals per year via free-to-view eLearnings that provide direct advice on topics ranging from media use and obesity trends, to promoting physical activity and energy balance. The first 3 e-learnings, delivered in English but with translation into Italian, Spanish, Russian and Turkish, can be viewed at: http://pearl.excellence-in-paediatrics.org/content/page/53/e-learning-se...

Apart from the eLearnings there is also a dedicated global needs survey that is currently taking place linked to a PEARL Network of like-minded healthcare professional who are joining together to promote physical activity. Both the survey and network link can be accessed via the PEARL website http://pearl.excellence-in-paediatrics.org.

Physical activity is seen as key to fight the obesity epidemic and by uniting with, and educating, paediatricians the PEARL project offers ICSSPE members the chance to help train the educators and improve children’s health globally. To find out more please contact Russell.hale2eic.com

Websites:

www.excellence-in-paediatrics.org

http://pearl.excellence-in-paediatrics.org