world health organization physical activity definition

10 The World Health Organization’s Global Action Plan on Physical Activity refers to this charter and states that a human rights-based approach should be a guiding principle for countries during the implementation of the action plan. 9 Based on an earlier UNESCO document from 1978, the charter declares that every human being has a fundamental right of access to physical education, physical activity, and sport. Arguably the most specific document on this issue is the International Charter of Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sport adopted in 2015 by UNESCO’s General Conference. While the public health benefits of physical activity are undisputed, up to now no clear understanding has emerged as to whether physical activity represents a human right. 7 At the country level, many governments have developed their own physical activity promotion policies in accordance with such public health recommendations. 6 In response, international organizations have developed evidence-based recommendations on the amount and intensity of physical activity for different age groups, accompanied by documents providing policy guidance to national governments. 5Ĭonsequently, the low prevalence of physical activity is a global problem that affects both highly industrialized countries and a growing number of developing nations. 4 Additionally, studies have shown that physical inactivity is responsible for premature mortality and causes several million deaths per year worldwide. Systematic reviews have shown that there is a dose-response relationship between physical activity on the one hand and premature mortality and the prevention of chronic diseases (such as type II diabetes, certain types of cancer, and many cardiovascular diseases) on the other.

3 This includes sport in a narrow sense, but also activities such as hiking, biking to work, cleaning the house, gardening, and taking the stairs at the office. As a concept, health-enhancing physical activity includes any physical activity that benefits health and functional capacity without undue harm or risk. 2 This has brought more widespread attention to a question previously confined primarily to parts of the physical activity promotion community: Do humans have a right to be active?įrom a public health perspective, sufficient health-enhancing physical activity is highly relevant due to its numerous health benefits. 1 As a result, public awareness of the importance of physical activity has increased, at least in many European countries. During the initial lockdowns in many countries in the spring of 2020, some governments allowed people to play individual sports or to go for walks, while others did not recognize physical activity as a sufficiently relevant reason for going outside. The quarantines, curfews, and other political restrictions imposed by governments around the world to counteract the COVID-19 pandemic have severely restricted the mobility of people in many countries. Given that the current human rights discourse in this field focuses mainly on the interconnections between sport and human rights, we would like to argue that there is added value in a debate about physical activity as a human right. This paper shows how a right to physical activity could be derived from international human rights treaties, how the attributes of such a right could be defined, and which state obligations would be associated with it. Even though the right to physical activity is not explicitly recognized in international human rights treaties, it seems possible to derive it from well-established human rights such as the right to health, the right to rest and leisure, the right to education, and the principle of nondiscrimination. This has brought more widespread attention to a question previously confined primarily to parts of the physical activity promotion community: Do humans have a right to be active? While the public health benefits of physical activity are undisputed, up to now no clear understanding has emerged as to whether physical activity represents a human right. Public awareness of the importance of physical activity has increased due to the many lockdowns imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sven Messing, Michael Krennerich, Karim Abu-Omar, Susanne Ferschl, and Peter Gelius

World health organization physical activity definition