Striving for global equity in physical activity: insights from the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance

Title: Striving for global equity in physical activity: insights from the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance

Purpose: To explore the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance’s evolving strategies in global physical activity surveillance and promotion for children and adolescents, emphasizing its actions for the integration of justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and sustainability in its future endeavors.

Description: The symposium delves into the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance’s (AHKGA) pioneering role in advancing global surveillance and promotion of physical activity among children and adolescents, integrating principles of justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and sustainability into current and future initiatives. There will be a brief introduction by the chair/discussant, followed by three presentations and then a facilitated question-and-answer session at the end.

The symposium opens with an in-depth exploration of AHKGA’s journey, from its inception in 2014 to its subsequent far-reaching impact. Through the harmonized development of Report Cards across jurisdictions globally, the AHKGA efforts have resonated across sectors, resulting in a wealth of scholarly presentations, publications, strategic collaborations and impact. This presentation underlines AHKGA’s pivotal role in advocating for children’s and adolescent’s physical activity on a global scale.

The second presentation showcases AHKGA’s pursuit to minimize inequities in children’s and adolescent’s physical activity surveillance and promotion. Analyses of Global Matrix Initiatives (1.0-4.0) demonstrate a progressive increase in EDI-focused data inclusion. AHKGA’s strategic endorsements, committee formations, and future commitments demonstrate its proactive stance, leading to concrete actions to address prevailing dis-parities and foster inclusive pathways for underserved children and adolescents.

Finally, the third presentation introduces an analysis comparing Global Matrix data and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) country scores. Analyzing data from 57 countries/jurisdictions, this novel approach reveals associations between specific SDGs and key physical activity indicators for children and adolescents. These findings high-light the interconnectedness between childhood physical activity promotion and the global SDGs agenda, offering insights into their alignment and impact.

Chair (Name and Affiliation): Dr. Salomé Aubert – Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, Avignon, France.

Presenter 1 (Name and Affiliation): Dr. Mark S. Tremblay – Children’s Hospital of East-ern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.

Presenter 2 (Name and Affiliation): Dr. Taru Manyanga – Division of Medical Sciences, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC, Canada.

Presenter 3 (Name and Affiliation): Dr. Diego A. S. Silva – Department of Physical Ed-ucation, Sports Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, SC, Brazil.

Discussant/moderator (Name and Affiliation): Dr. Salomé Aubert – Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, Avignon, France.

 
Presentation 1
Title: Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance Global Matrix: History, Activities, and Impact

Background: Interest and concern regarding childhood physical (in)activity has grown in recent decades. Physical activity practitioners, leaders, scholars, and researchers have collaborated in a variety of ways to try and combat progressive, pervasive and per-nicious childhood inactivity trends.

Purpose: To introduce the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance (AHKGA); describe its history, activities, and impact; and explain the Global Matrix initiative.

Methods: Using AHKGA records, analyses of Global Matrices data, consolidation of published findings, aggregation of evaluations of organizational activities, and summar-ies of impacts across sectors in a variety of countries, key highlights of AHKGA history, activities and impact were extracted.

Results: AHKGA was founded in 2014 and incorporated in 2018. Its primary activity has been the harmonized development of Report Cards in jurisdictions around the world that are aggregated to create a “Global Matrix” of grades to help identify areas of concern and inform improvements. Global Matrices were released in 2014 (15 countries/jurisdictions), 2016 (38 countries/jurisdictions), 2018 (49 countries/jurisdictions), and 2022 (57 coun-tries/jurisdictions). The various AHKGA activities have resulted in >300 scholarly and professional presentations and >200 peer-reviewed publications that have been cited >6,000 times. AHKGA has strategic partnerships with several other leading physical ac-tivity organizations.

Conclusions: Over the past decade the AHKGA has become an important organization promoting physical activity for children and youth around the world. In developing and releasing four Global Matrices involving 70 jurisdictions, the AHKGA has had significant impact across a variety of sectors.

Practical implications: The AHKGA provides an infrastructure and network to power the global movement to get kids moving through thought leadership, knowledge translation and mobilization, capacity building, and advocacy. This is facilitated by sustainable partnerships and cross-sectoral collaborations that enable best-practice exchanges, networking and cross-fertilization.

Funding: Nothing to declare.

Presentation 2
Title: Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance’s drive to promote equity, diversity, inclusion in opportunities for child physical activity: where we are and where we are going.

Background: As research, interventions, and policies to address insufficient physical activity among children and adolescents have intensified, efforts and initiatives to mini-mize inequities in opportunities for physical activity have also increased.

Purpose: To highlight Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance (AHKGA)’s global efforts to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion in its previous and future Global Matrix Initiatives.

Methods: Published and unpublished data from AHKGA’s Global Matrix (1.0-4.0) initia-tives, ongoing surveys, and planning documents for Global Matrix 5.0 were used.

Results: Progressively more countries/jurisdictions from Global Matrix 1.0 to 4.0 (0/15; 0%; 2/38; 5%; 3/49; 6%; 8/57; 14%) respectively, have included at least some data relat-ed to children and adolescents with a disability (CAWD). From the 159 Report Cards de-veloped for the four Global Matrix initiatives, 124 (78%) have included disaggregated da-ta for at least one area of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). For Global Matrix 4.0, AHKGA endorsed the International Federation for Adapted Physical Activity (IFAPA)’s harmonized development and release of a Global Matrix of fourteen Para Report Cards, leading to an official partnership. Survey data from Para Report Card leaders and AHKGA’s network members show that the majority, 82% and 68% respectively, support integrating data for CAWD in future Report Cards. Additional AHKGA EDI promotion in-cludes the creation of a JEDI committee and a requirement of future Global Matrix partic-ipants to commit to collect and include disaggregated EDI data whenever possible.

Conclusions: AHKGA’s multi-pronged efforts, strategic partnerships, and ongoing plans to promote EDI in physical activity for children and adolescents, have raised awareness of gaps, led to concrete actions, and will contribute to reducing the existing inequities in physical activity opportunities.

Practical implications: AHKGA’s deliberate initiatives, proactive planning, and strategic partnerships provide a practical and inclusive pathway to addressing inequalities in op-portunities for physical activity among underserved children and adolescents.

Funding: Nothing to declare.

Presentation 3
Title: Physical Activity Report Card Indicators and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Insights from Global Matrix 4.0

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes that physical activity (PA) during childhood is crucial for healthy development and the attainment of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Purpose: To explore the associations between 10 key indicators of PA for children and adolescents assessed in the Global Matrix 4.0 project and the United Nations (UN) SDGs.

Methods: Data from 57 countries/jurisdictions that participated in the Global Matrix 4.0 project were used. The UN SDGs indicators are sourced from the SDG Transformation Center, which publishes each country performance for each of the 17 SDGs. Given the robust evidence supporting plausible links between PA and SDGs 3 (good health and well-being), 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), 11 (sustainable cities and com-munities), 13 (climate action), and 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions), these SDGs were investigated.

Results: Countries/jurisdictions with good performance in achieving SDG 3, SDG 9, and SDG 16 had higher grades than countries/jurisdictions with poor performance in achiev-ing these SDGs for the indicators Organized Sports and PA, Community and Environ-ment, and Government Investments and Strategies. In relation to the achievement of SDG 11, countries/jurisdictions with good performance had higher grades than coun-tries/jurisdictions with poor performance for the indicator Government Investments and Strategies. Countries/jurisdictions with good performance in achieving SDG 13 had low-er grades than countries/jurisdictions with poor performance in achieving SDG 13 for the indicators Community and Environment, and Government Investments and Strategies.

Conclusions: Organized Sports and PA, Community and Environment, and Government Investments and Strategies were the indicators that demonstrated differences between countries/jurisdictions with good and poor performance in achieving the SDGs.

Practical implications: Promoting PA in childhood is related to achieving the SDGs.

Funding: Nothing to declare.