From 13th-15th December the WHO held the 10th Global Conference on Health Promotion to address how health promotion can advance well-being.
During the Global Conference, one of the first sessions focused on Accelerating Action on Physical Activity for Better Health and Well-being. During this event, moderated by Dr Fiona Bull, Chair of the WHO Physical Activity Unit, speakers underlined the importance of physical activity for individuals’ health and wellbeing, for which it is important to create more opportunities, particularly in our daily lives. This also requires adequate funding. Dr Bull offered a reminder that every move counts and that doing something is better than doing nothing, although doing more is obviously better for your health. Proper monitoring is important, including doing reporting and providing appropriate support and measures. For this reason, the WHO will launch its new Global Status report in the Spring of 2022.
Several events took place during this three-day conference, during which participants called for better partnerships and to develop better communication campaigns to further promote well-being and increase engagement in physical activity. It was also emphasised that it is crucially important to enable individuals to take control of their own health, which is why campaigns could help to raise awareness of what people can do at their own level to be healthy.
From 14th-15th December, WHO Europe focused on Digital Solutions to tackle NCDs with a hybrid conference held on in Moscow, Russia.
The WHO Europe conference on tackling NCDs through digital solutions focused on the public health benefits of new technologies. Panelists recognized the contribution of new technologies, not only for digital health solutions but also to promote health and wellbeing. In line with the Global Conference on Health Promotion, it also highlighted their role in enabling individuals to take control of their own health. Digital tools can play a crucial role in monitoring and preventing NCDs, including in healthy lifestyle promotion. Physical activity is indeed recognized as a key prevention measure against several NCDs, such as cardiovascular ones.
The WHO and WHO Europe will continue to develop their tools and knowledge resources to keep raising awareness on these topics and reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases, which are mostly preventable.