Results from Ghana’s 2014 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth

Abstract

About one-third of Ghanaian children and youth engage in inadequate PA. More research on PA behavior and enabling environments is needed to better grade the indicators of PA in the future and to inform policy and interventions in Ghana. Appropriate school physical education and after-school sports policies and programs are warranted.

Physical Activity of Children: A Global Matrix of Grades Comparing 15 Countries

“…Country-specific details for each Report Card are summarized in the individual papers in this special issue of the journal. 1,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] Despite variation in country data sources and the extent to which country Expert Groups were able to apply the recommended benchmarks, it is believed that the grades across all indicators are comparable and certainly informative of global variation in important factors related to PA among children and youth. Internet links to the Report Cards for each country are provided in Table 3.…”

“…The individual country report cards discussed a variety of policies, strategies, and investments related to different indicators and collectively represent a catalog of ideas for governments to consider. 1,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] Many countries had relatively high grades for the policy environment both in schools and in governments, but relatively low grades for the indicators of health behaviors that the policies were targeting. Whether this reflects ineffective policies, lack of implementation or the reactive nature of policy development is unclear.…”

“…Details are reported in individual country Report Cards. 1,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] …”

“…1,2 Details of the process in each country are briefly described in this issue of the Journal of Physical Activity and Health. 1,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] This paper consolidates findings from the 15 countries, creating a "global matrix" of common indicators graded by each country using the best available evidence in their jurisdiction. The global matrix not only assesses global variation in indicators related to PA, but also serves as a tool to motivate change, facilitate advocacy, and cross-fertilize efforts aimed at empowering the movement to get kids moving around the world.…”

Secular trends in admissions and mortality rates from diabetes mellitus in the Central Belt of Ghana: a 31-year review

“…The rising rates of diabetes admissions and increasing mean age of admitted patients is reflective of the increasing longevity of the citizenry of Ghanaians attended by modest improvements in the socio-economic status leading to urbanisation and adoption of western life-styles that are serving as undercurrents for the epidemiological transition being experienced by many LMICs [19,20]. Accordingly, the population prevalence of vascular risk factors in particular obesity, physical inactivity, systemic arterial hypertension has escalated in several countries across Africa culminating in the rising burden of diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. For instance, about four in five adult Ghanaians has been recorded not to engage in enough physical activity [20][21][22].…”