There is compelling evidence that physical activity benefits everyone, however, evidence demonstrates that those with a long term health condition are twice as likely to face the greatest barriers to participation.

In 2018, The World Health Organisation published a ‘Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018 – 2030’.  It calls for all nations to adopt a system-wide approach to increasing physical activity across the population, setting a global target of a 15% reduction in physical inactivity by 2030, a target also adopted by the Scottish Government.

In 2010, the International Society for Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH) published the Toronto Charter for Physical Activity as a ‘call to action’ to make physical activity a priority for all. Subsequently in 2020, the International Society for Physical Activity and Health published the Eight Investments that work for physical activity which provided a summary on how to enable populations to be more active across multiple sectors and settings.

We know that the pandemic has not been felt evenly across Scotland. Unfortunately, it has further highlighted and worsened inequalities for certain population groups but particularly for those with long term health conditions. Therefore, there has never been more need to join the physical activity movement and create change across the physical activity system.

Scotland’s response to this global challenge is set out in ‘A More Active Scotland’, The Scottish Government’s plan to encourage and support the people of Scotland to be more active, more often.

In support of this, Public Health Scotland’s ‘A Systems based approach to Physical Activity in Scotland’ (2022) gives us an evidence-based physical activity framework and guidance for taking action to increase population levels of physical activity that can be applied nationally and locally.