Background
While enabling and supporting factors have been in place to facilitate the pupils to be more active, only a fourth of Thai children have met the WHO recommendation.
Objective
This study aims to present the physical activity (PA) level of Thai children and youth, based on the indicators established by Active Health Kids Global Alliance’s Report Card (RC).
Methods
The 2016 Thailand RC Survey and the 2015–2017 Thailand’s Surveillance on Physical Activity (SPA) were employed for the analysis. PA of Thai children aged 6–17 years old was assessed in 9 aspects 1) Overall PA, 2) Organized Sports and PA, 3) Active Play, 4) Active Transportation, 5) Sedentary Behavior, 6) Family and Peers, 7) School, 8) Community and Environment, and 9) Government.
Results
Only 26.2% of Thai children and youth met the recommended level of 60 min MVPA. Boys are generally more active compared to girls in all age groups (34.9% versus 16.3%, respectively). Almost half had participated in organized sports and/or PA program, but only 8.7% of Thai children and youth engaged in unstructured/unorganized active play. The settings and source of influence indicators achieved better grades, shown by 71.0% of family members (e.g., parents, guardians) facilitated PA and sports opportunities for their children.
Conclusion
Although schools’ facilities are available, Thai curriculum provides less opportunity for the children to move during classes and have enough playing time during recess. As there is no standardized guidance for PA in Thai schools, Thailand needs to promote a unified PA in order to improve PA and to reduce recreational screen time of children and youth.
This study aims to describe the level and trends of physical activity (PA) in Thai children and young people and examine PA changes during transitional periods. Employing nine rounds of Thailand’s Surveillance on Physical Activity (SPA) 2012–2020, this study pooled three sets of data and included children and young people aged 6–17 years in the analysis: 1595 in SPA2012–2016, 1287 in SPA2017–2019, and 853 persons in SPA2020. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in five regions, 13 provinces, and 36 villages in SPA2012–2019, whereas an online survey was administered in all provinces in SPA2020. The prevalence of sufficient moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) among Thais aged 6–17 years ranged from 19.0 percent to 27.6 percent, with a significant drop during the period of COVID-19 spread in 2020. The average daily MVPA ranged from 46 to 57 min and dropped to 36 min during the pandemic. Boys were consistently more active than girls in all nine rounds of the SPA, and girls had more difficulty in maintaining or improving their PA level. A significant increase in the proportion of Thai children and young people with sufficient MVPA was observed during their transition from late primary to early secondary school grades.
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