To the old adage, ‘you are what you eat’, the 21st century can add, ‘you are as healthy as much as you exercise’. Nowadays, there is an ever growing body of evidence which shows a link between physical exercise and mental health. Life expectancy also draws a parallel with the levels of physical activity that a population pursues.

Governments within the EU have also noted the importance of physical activity within their population as a healthy European society also affects the EU economy. Illnesses, high incidences of diseases due to lack of activity, and mortality, all have a cost on the EU’s economy. So less health problems can translate into less economic costs especially when one considers  that Europe’s population is an aging one. A study carried out by the British government in 2012 had identified costs to England of just over €3bn per year, or €63 per inhabitant.

In 2009, physical inactivity was identified as the fourth leading risk factor for premature mortality and disease in high-income countries world-wide, accounting for more than 1 million deaths in the European region alone. Among the 19 Member States for which data are available, the proportion of overweight and obese people in the adult population in 2008/09 varied between 36.9% and 56.7% for women and between 51% and 69.3% for men.

For both women and men aged 18 years and over, the lowest shares of obesity in 2008/09 were observed in Romania (8.0% for women and 7.6% for men), Italy (9.3% and 11.3%), Bulgaria (11.3% and 11.6%) and France (12.7% and 11.7%). The highest proportions of obese women were recorded in the United Kingdom (23.9%), Malta (21.1%), Latvia (20.9%) and Estonia (20.5% in 2006), and of men in Malta (24.7%), the United Kingdom (22.1%), Hungary (21.4%) and the Czech Republic (18.4%).

In view of this, last August, the European Commission launched a Proposal for a Council Recommendation on promoting health-enhancing physical activity across sectors. The promotion of Health-Enhancing Physical Activity (HEPA) falls under the competence of the Member States and many have become very aware of the importance of promoting it. Many Member States have a recommendation in place for promoting physical activity across the board amongst its population.

However, and despite the growing profile that HEPA has been given and the available tools at national, European and international  level, the rates of physical inactivity in Europe remain high. In a 2010 Eurobarometer survey, 60% of European respondents answered that they hardly ever exercised or played sport.

For the EU as a whole, to date, the HEPA promotion policies of Member States have not been effective. This situation runs counter to the Europe 2020 Strategy, which acknowledges the need to fight health inequalities as a prerequisite for growth and competitiveness. It is also incompatible with the Union's stated policy ambitions in the fields of sport and health. Research indeed confirms the ‘evidence-policy gap for action’ in addressing physical inactivity and has led to urgent calls for policy action on physical activity as a standalone public health priority.

Where does Malta fit into all this? According to the figures shown above, Malta ranks as the Member State with the most obese population. However, and prior to joining the EU in 2004, Malta had already launched a National Sports Act (Chapter 455 of the Civil Code) to encourage and promote sports. In 2006 a ‘Draft National Environmental and Health Action Plan’ was launched, and in 2007, a medium-term plan entitled, ‘Reshaping sports – towards personal development, health and success’. In 2009 priority was given to children, with an action plan entitled, ‘Investing in our children’s education’. Last July, an anti-obesity campaign was launched by the Department of Health. This goes to show that Malta is taking the promotion of physical activity seriously but it still needs to step its efforts in order to change the figures towards a nation that is more physically active and less obese.

Although the promotion of health-enhancing physical activity lies with the Member States, the EU has addressed this issue through several policies and financial support in the health and sport sectors. It has also used EU level structures and funds to coordinate policy. Article 165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provides the EU with a new competence aimed at developing the European dimension in sport.

The Treaty text calls on the EU to promote European sporting issues, notably by taking account of the specific nature of sport, its structures based on voluntary activity and its social and educational functions. The initiatives that followed include: the setting up of EU Expert Groups on Sport, the EU Work Plan for Sport and the High level group on Nutrition and Physical Activity, part of the framework of the Strategy for Europe on Nutrition, Overweight and Obesity related issues.

Through the Council Recommendation on promoting health-enhancing physical activity across sectors, referred to earlier, Member States are now invited to set up a strategy for promoting EU Physical Activity guidelines and to monitor physical activity levels and policy implementation. Androulla Vassiliou, EU Commissioner responsible for education, culture, multilingualism and youth, stated that much more can be done through policies to encourage people to get out of their chairs. It was also a milestone for the European Commission to promote health enhancing physical activity in the EU. The Commission will be sustaining this activity through its support in establishing a monitoring framework and to report regularly on the progress of implementation of this latest Recommendation.

Simone Aquilina is a MEUSAC Executive, EU Policy and Legislation