The World Health Organization (WHO) has released its Global Status Report on Physical Activity 2022, WHO’s first dedicated assessment of global progress on country implementation of policy recommendations of the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (GAPPA) 2018-2030. The GAPP is meant to help countries increase levels of participation in physical activity and accelerate action towards meeting the global target of a 15 percent relative reduction in population levels of physical inactivity by 2030. The new WHO report also provides an estimate of the cost to health systems of not taking action to improve physical activity levels and related recommendations.
Physical activity benefits both physical and mental health. According to the 112-page report, however, 81 percent of adolescents and 27.5 percent of adults currently do not meet WHO’s recommended levels of physical activity. This state of affairs bears a large economic burden. Globally, nearly 500 million (499,208 million) new cases of preventable noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are expected to occur between 2020 and 2030, leading to treatment costs of just over US$ 300 billion (INT$ 524 billion) or around US$ 27 billion (INT$ 48 billion) annually if there is no change in the current prevalence of physical inactivity. Nearly half (47 percent) of the new cases of NCDs will result from hypertension, followed by 43 percent that will result from depression. The largest economic cost is expected to occur among high-income countries, which will account for 70 percent of healthcare expenditure on treating illness due to physical inactivity.
The report provides a series of recommendations to help countries accelerate physical activity policy implementation. Five actions aimed at closing the policy-implementation gap are recommended, including 1) Strengthening whole-of-government ownership and political leadership; 2) Integrating physical activity into relevant policies and supporting policy implementation with practical tools and guidance; 3) Strengthening partnerships, engaging communities and building capacity in people; 4) Reinforcing data systems, monitoring, and knowledge translation; and finally 5) Securing sustainable funding and aligning with national policy commitments.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on physical activity is also examined in the report. On the one hand, the pandemic highlighted the key role of regular physical activity in mental and physical health. On the other hand, however, it also revealed and exacerbated existing inequities in access and opportunities for some communities to be physically active, hence the related need to enable everyone to be regularly active regardless of their income, age, gender, ethnicity or physical ability. The experience of the pandemic made it clear that physical activity can no longer be regarded as a “nice to have” component of public policy but rather as a “must have,” suggests the report.
