Thinking Globally and Acting Locally
For those who don’t keep up with world events as much as we should, a very important event happened for the global physical activity community in September.
At the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly, a resolution from the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases was introduced and adopted 16 September 2011. The purpose of this resolution was to rally the world toward addressing the non-communicable disease (NCD) epidemic that the human species is facing. In 2008 alone, approximately 63% of all deaths throughout the world were due to NCDs and 8/10 of those deaths occurred in low-or middle-income countries.
It is no secret physical inactivity is one of the primary causes of leading NCDs. It was of extreme importance to note however that physical activity-related solutions are prominent throughout the UN resolution. As part of the Whole of Government and Whole of Society approach recommended by the resolution, specific physical activity solutions included school-based physical education, environmental change in urban planning and for active transportation, workplace health promotion programs and parks and recreational space. The entire UN declaration can be found here:
http://www.un.org/en/ga/ncdmeeting2011/pdf/NCD_draft_political_declaration.pdf
This remarkable achievement marks one of the first times in history that global health policy has included specific physical activity solutions without simply lumping it together with diet. This increased attention toward physical activity is both a product of how far our field has progressed combined with intense awareness building of the importance of physical activity prior to the High-Level Meeting. Trevor Shilton, Fiona Bull who lead the Global Alliance for Physical Activity (GAPA), the advocacy council of ISPAH, along with other organizations, colleagues and collaborators were instrumental in helping us take this giant step forward.
How will you act NOW to take this global resolution and create local action to improve health through physical activity?
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