Nearly 500 million new cases of diseases such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and dementia will occur worldwide by 2030 if governments don’t take urgent action to encourage more people to exercise regularly, according to a report.
In a stark warning to countries where health services are already failing, the World Health Organization he said the cost of not getting people to move more would be around $27bn (£24bn) a year.
“There are few areas in public health…where the evidence for action required is as compelling, cost-effective and practical,” according to the WHO’s first global report on physical activity, which notes that regular exercise reduces the risk of death 20-30% premature. .
Yet despite the clear benefits, implementation of policies aimed at encouraging more exercise has been “slow and uneven,” resulting in “little progress,” according to the report.
“One consequence of this ‘inaction’ is that already overburdened health systems are burdened with preventable disease today and even more so in the future, and communities are missing out on the broader social, environmental and economic benefits associated with more people being more active,” he added.
If the situation does not change, the WHO predicts that by 2030 there will be 499,208 million new cases of preventable diseases non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, stroke, dementia, depression, and some types of cancer. More than 40% of these will occur in lower middle income countries such as Kenya, India and Bangladesh.
Nearly half of those new NCD cases would be the result of hypertension (high blood pressure) and 43% from depression, according to the report, released Tuesday.
The WHO has said that around 7-8% of all cases of cardiovascular disease, depression and dementia could be prevented if people were more active.
Examining data from 194 countries, the report found that less than half of them had a national policy on physical activity, of which less than 40% were operational. Exercise levels in young children were a particular gap, it found, with less than 30% of countries monitoring physical activity in children under the age of five.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the WHO, called on governments to implement policies to increase physical activity and thus reduce pressure on health systems.
“We need more countries to scale up policy implementation to help people be more active through walking, cycling, sports and other physical activities. The benefits are enormous, not only for people’s physical and mental health, but also for societies, environments and economies,” she said.
