A University of Limerick research team is to lead a project looking at inequality in physical activity policies around Europe.
UL’s Professor Catherine Woods, Director of the Physical Activity for Health Research Centre, a Health Research Institute priority area has been chosen to lead the €1.7 million project which will examine physical activity policy-related inequalities across Europe.
IMPAQT, which stands for ‘IMproving Physical Activity policies and their impact on health eQuiTy’, is set to generate groundbreaking knowledge and action in physical activity and public health.
The project's scope encompasses six countries - Ireland (lead), Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, and Romania - representing a combined population of 165 million.
It was formed in response to the pressing global challenge posed by non-communicable diseases and the urgent need for equitable physical activity policies.
IMPAQT's innovative approach focuses on developing, testing, and promoting policy benchmarking as a powerful tool to enhance public sector policy implementation and accountability.
By utilizing cutting-edge methodologies, including the newly developed Physical Activity-Environment Policy Index (PA-EPI) and engaging diverse stakeholders including policymakers, non-governmental experts and citizens, IMPAQT seeks to create country-specific policy implementation scores and actionable recommendations to bridge implementation gaps.
IMPAQT is poised to contribute to international benchmarks for healthy and equitable physical activity environments. In time, IMPAQT will empower governments, communities and stakeholders to enact transformative policies to address physical inactivity and reduce health disparities.
Speaking about the importance of the initiative, project lead Professor Catherine Woods said: “Despite good progress at a country level regarding the introduction of national policies for physical activity, minimal progress has been made on addressing population levels of physical inactivity.
“This is in part due to a lack of ‘upstream’ policy progress in domains known to be effective for physical activity promotion such as health, schools, transport, urban design, sport, communities, workplaces and communication.
“It is also in part due to a lack of effective infrastructure support for policy implementation such as leadership and governance, monitoring and surveillance, and workforce development.”
The IMPAQT project, using the PA-EPI tool, will help policymakers determine:
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Where their country ranks in relation to the implementation of Physical Activity policies, known to be effective in addressing population inactivity.
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What is possible to change, and provide pathways on how to reach goals to address critical implementation gaps.
“Effective policy intervention is essential if we are to meet the World Health Organisation target of a 15% relative reduction in the prevalence of population inactivity by 2030. IMPAQT will also provide a mechanism for documenting progress and for examining the impact, good or bad, on health equity”, Professor Woods added.
IMPAQT is funded by the Health Research Board (Ireland) under the umbrella of the Partnership Fostering a European Research Area for Health (ERA4Health).