The Toronto Charter for Physical Activity: A Global Call for Action

Abstract

There is well established scientific evidence on the role of regular physical activity in promoting health and preventing non communicable disease (NCD) and this provides a solid platform for stronger commitment and national programs aimed at increasing levels of participation in most countries. Globally, NCD"s account for 60% of all deaths worldwide and 80% of these occur in low and middle income countries (LMIC). The need to scale up NCD prevention efforts, particularly in LMIC is well recognised, however evidence a lone has yet to translate into increased action and investment in prevention strategies. Using an "active living" approach, national strategies should promote and support physical activity in different settings, including at home, in "active transport" (e.g. walking and cycling to get from place to place), and in leisure time (e.g. sports, recreation, exercise and play). However, what is missing in most countries is sufficient political commitment and the necessary long term investment. For this reason, there is a need for greater advocacy work to promote the importance of physical activity, its central role in NCD prevention along side tobacco control and healthy diets, and the co benefits for other related agenda"s such as environmental sustainability. The development of the Toronto Charter for Physical Activity: A global call for action was undertaken to address these gaps and provide the field with a powerful advocacy tool. Guided by an expert writing group the development used a stepped approach including an open, global web-based consultation phase allowing a wide range of stakeholder, institutions, governments and individuals to comment on the content and structure. The Charter took about 2 years to develop and received over 2000 individual comments from over 450 individuals or organisations from across 55 countries and all regions of the world. Overall, there was strong endorsement on the need for a Charter to articulate "the case" for physical activity and provide an international consensus on a set of common actions that should be implemented to promote physical activity. The Toronto Charter provides a short, clear internationally agreed consensus highlighting all benefits of physical activity, beyond just health. It outlines specific examples of actions and these address all relevant sectors including: education, transport, sports and recreation and urban planning. The Charter was launched during the closing plenary session of the 3 rd International Congress on Physical Activity and Public Health in Toronto, May 2010. Since then, the Charter has been translated into 11 languages and has received over 500 individual and 135 organisational indications of support with representation from around the world. Given the forthcoming United Nation"s High Level Meeting of the General Assembly on chronic non-communicable disease (Sept 2011) it is timely to have the Toronto Charter, and the recently released supporting document "NCD Prevention: Investments that work for physical activity", to present ...

Sport and exercise as contributors to the health of nations

“…Recent major national and international guidelines provide consistent recommendations and policy advice (eg, the Toronto Charter 49 and Physical Activity Guidelines from WHO 50 and the USA 34 ). Sport is one sector that can improve the health of a nation through increased physical activity, but system-wide changes also require complementary efforts by transportation agencies, park and recreation areas, city planning, and school programmes to increase and sustain activity levels of whole populations.…”

“…51 Employers and health-care systems also need to recognise the benefits of exercise for prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation. 49 We believe that small changes at the community level and large, nationwide policies and initiatives are needed to improve health at a country level. Sport is one sector represented in both the US Physical Activity Plan and the Global…”

Using self-determination theory to understand motivation for walking: Instrument development and model testing using Bayesian structural equation modelling

“…For these reasons, increased walking has been identified as the most likely way that adults can achieve healthy levels of physical activity. Walking has become a key component of many physical activity promotion strategies (e.g., Bull et al, 2010), in which authors advocate creating opportunities for people to have physically active lifestyles.…”

Fatores individuais e ambientais associados ao uso de parques e praças por adultos de Curitiba-PR, Brasil.

“…In Brazil, the proximity and diversity of recreational facilities in the neighborhood are associated with population's PA practice [9][10][11] . Therefore, it is important to invest in and provide facilities in parks to promote PA at the community level 12 . In the United States, around 50% of the population use parks on a weekly basis and 1/3 regularly exercise in these places 13,14 .…”