A wrap-up of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dialogue
Last month Fitness Australia's National Manager of Advocacy and Partnerships, Joel Perricone attended the second World Health Organization (WHO) Dialogue on the Implementation of the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity in Geneva Switzerland along with 20 specialists from all over the world including Greg Oliver, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Fitness and Lifestyle Group.
“It's been a tremendous honour for me to have had the opportunity to showcase the great work of the Australian fitness industry in front of a global audience,” says Perricone.
“We know that the fitness industry has a major role to play in improving the health of Australians, but as a nation, we still have a long way to go. Being part of this discussion on a global scale gives us the opportunity to learn from examples of good practice by our counterparts in other countries.”
Regular physical activity is proven to help prevent and treat noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and breast and colon cancer. It also helps prevent hypertension and obesity and can improve mental health, quality of life and well-being. Yet, much of the world is becoming less active.
WHO developed a new global action plan to help countries scale up policy actions to promote physical activity. It responds to the requests by countries for updated guidance, and a framework of effective and feasible policy actions to increase physical activity at all levels.
The plan sets out four objectives and recommends 20 policy actions that are applicable to all countries and address the cultural, environmental and individual determinants of inactivity. With that in mind, we asked Joel what his personal highlight of the dialogue was, "it was great to meet passionate like-minded people from all over the world who are committed to the common goal of reducing inactivity by 30% by 2020."
Q&A WITH JOEL PERRICONE
What were your key learnings from the dialogue?
- Increased inactivity linked to more affluent populations
- 28% adults globally do not meet recommended physical activity standards
- 81% adolescents globally do not meet recommended physical activity standards
- $54 billion in health cost is attributed to inactivity globally
What were the action outcomes of the dialogue?
- WHO is going to conduct a research report on the Return on Investment of implementing the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (GAPPA).
- Begin to identify possible accelerator countries for the implementation of the GAPPA
- Begin to identify how the endorsement of UFIT will into the culture and community of the potential accelerator countries. (UFIT's vision is to make communities inclusive by facilitating the access to health, fitness and sport clubs to all citizens).
Will there be follow up meetings?
There is an online discussion in June, exactly 12 months after the release of the GAPPA, and another face-to-face follow up in September in Switzerland.
What do these action outcomes mean for Fitness Australia?
The recent WHO dialogue provides the Australian fitness industry with direction on the role we can play in the health of Australians in relation to the GAPPA. This will now help Fitness Australia's strategic direction in the coming years so that we as an industry can impact people's health nationally. This means reaching far and wide to get more Australians active.
Moving forward, members of the Fitness Australia Industry Development team will investigate how UFIT can fit into Fitness Australia Quality Accreditation.
Keep an eye out for the upcoming podcast by Chantal Brodrick, host of The Fitness Business Podcast with Joel Perricone about the second WHO Dialogue. For more info about the GAPPA, click here.
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