On Friday, 19 May, the Active Czechia Foundation was established to improve the lifestyle of Czechs. VŠTVS PALESTRA is one of the 14 founding members
An active lifestyle as an essential priority! A spectrum of entities that are not indifferent to the lack of exercise in society join forces and establish the Active Czechia Foundation!
Joint argumentation, linking a number of working projects, forces and experience into a unified voice towards the state and local authorities. Relevant resources and data on the importance of regular exercise for human health as a prevention of serious diseases, as well as the offer of implementation of support programmes across the population - these are the main pillars of the activities of the multisectoral initiative to promote healthy exercise and active lifestyle in society, under the umbrella of the Active Czech Republic Foundation.
The alarming reduction in the amount of physical activity in the population has serious health and social consequences. Lack of exercise is a high risk factor for mortality, and has a major impact on the physical and mental health of children, youth, active and elderly adults.
The World Health Organization (WHO), together with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), has released a new report entitled Step Up (Get up!), which analyses the economic burden on all 27 EU Member States caused by the lack of movement of their citizens. Increasing the level of regular physical activity in society would demonstrably increase healthy life expectancy and save considerable healthcare costs, especially for patients suffering from civilisation-related diseases. Just reaching the basic recommended amount of 150 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week would save 0.6% of healthcare costs in Europe, which amounts to €8 billion per year.
Alarming deterioration of physical fitness among school children in the Czech Republic is shown by the latest Thematic report on physical fitness of pupils in primary and secondary schoolsEven though the evidence of the fatal effects of lack of exercise across the population is overwhelming, this topic remains desperately underestimated politically and socially.
The multi-sectoral Active Czechia platform began to take shape in September 2022 as part of a roundtable organized for the European Week of Sport at the Czech Chamber of Commerce. Actors from across society from the fields of education, health, sport and physical activity, business and tourism are jointly establishing the Active Czechia Foundation. The ceremonial signing of the founding charter will take place at the National Summit of Active Czechia on Friday 19 May 2023 in the Charvát Hall of the 3rd Internal Medicine Clinic of the 1st Faculty of Medicine of the Charles University in Prague.
Another part of the programme of the Active Czech Republic National Summit will be expert lectures and follow-up panel discussions, which are fully in line with the recommendations of the WHO Global Plan to increase physical activity in society. It will focus on the 4 strategic areas of Active Society, Active People, Active State and Active Environment. Representatives of the European Federation EuropeActive, the Czech office of WHO, the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Education, the Czech School Inspectorate, the State Institute of Health, the National Sports Agency, umbrella organizations in the field of sport, medical associations and health insurance companies, the Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic, tourism and universities of physical education have already confirmed their participation.
PALESTRA College of Physical Education and Sport is one of the fourteen founding members of the Active Czechia Foundation. "As a college with a focus on healthy living, we feel it is important to participate in activities like this and we greatly appreciate being invited to participate. Our goal is to be an active member and seek new partnerships in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors, as well as with relevant government agencies. We believe that our involvement will also bring support to students in their studies at Palestra and employment after graduation." adds Tomas Mirovsky, Vice Rector for External Relations and representative of the PALESTRA University of Technology in the project. More about Active Czechia at Active Czechia (aktivnicesko.cz)
