ENOS, EuropeActive, FESI and It’s Great Out There Coalition have launched the European Physical Activity Alliance (EPAA), a new organization designed to promote the benefits of health-enhancing physical activity for physical, social and mental health and well-being. The EPAA was launched during an online event that attracted more than 200 participants and featured outstanding presentations by high-level representatives from European institutions and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The scientific evidence that physical activity is good for people’s social, mental and physical health is overwhelming. Yet physical activity levels in Europe continue to decline, according to the European Commission. It is also known that prevention is better than cure, but only 3 percent of health budgets in the EU are allocated to disease prevention. A stronger focus on and funding for health promotion, disease prevention and physical activity promotion is long overdue and essential to keep health budgets manageable. In fact, this is the most sustainable way to effectively address non-communicable diseases, which are often preventable but account for 80 percent of all deaths in Europe, according to WHO Europe.
With this in mind, ENOS, EuropeActive, FESI and It’s Great Out There Coalition decided to join forces and create the European Physical Activity Alliance. And after two years of the pandemic, the need for cross-sector action is now more important than ever to ensure that no one is left behind. Drawing on their long experience in promoting sport and physical activity, EPAA partners are committed to doing more and actively reaching out to different sectors to build new partnerships and promote physical activity.
FESI secretary general Jérôme Pero commented: “We all know how important physical activity is for our health and well-being. Yet figures show that physical activity continues to decline in Europe. While FESI and its members have long been engaged in promoting healthy lifestyles through physical activity, the time has come to scale up these efforts. By creating the European Physical Activity Alliance, our common ambition is to work together with policy-makers and stakeholders from the health and other sectors to achieve this ultimate goal: get more people physically active in Europe”.
