Intelligent Health welcome the announcement today that Sport England will be spending £250 million to combat inactivity over the next five years.
Sport England have announced their new five-year strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’ which will put a greater emphasis on groups who are typically less active such as women, disabled people and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
“Sport England’s commitment has the potential to transform the health of the nation and this is a huge step forward.” said Dr William Bird, CEO of Intelligent Health, at the launch of a Sport England funded programme earlier today.
Dr William Bird was speaking alongside Jenny Price, Chief Executive of Sport England, at the launch of Fit 4 Life in Nottingham which supports people living with Type 2 Diabetes into leading active lifestyles.
“Getting the most inactive into activity has the greatest benefits to public health” explained Dr Bird. “A strategy must include all types of participation and making opportunities accessible and inclusive. It is vital that people are active for their health and we should ensure that barriers are removed to make this possible for everyone, no matter their level of ability.”
“We know that 5.3 million people in the UK are so unfit that walking at just 3mph would be a vigorous activity. This level of poor fitness would rule out event low level sports. Sport England’s new focus allows this to be addressed alongside Public Health England commitments to improving health. We know the health benefits of activity but there are many other benefits such as increase in social contact and productivity.”
“Intelligent Health have been working for the past five years to highlight the benefits of everyone getting active.” added Dr William Bird.
Intelligent Health’s mission is to build active communities. One way this is achieved is via the successful mass participation programme — Beat the Street. Over 300,000 people have played the walking and cycling game which turns whole towns into a playing field.
The programme makes being active fun and normalises healthy behaviour. As a result, at least 12% of participants are lifted into activity.
Beat the Street is currently in its third week in Nottingham with over 17,000 residents participating in the city-wide programme.
