ABU DHABI // Only one in five children in the UAE is physically active for more than an hour each day, a report has found.
Children and adolescents should be active for at least an hour to maintain a minimum level of health and fitness, according to this year’s Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth.
It is the first systematic assessment of how the country is performing in supporting and engaging youngsters in physical activity, and it studied national trends between 1998 and 2014.
The report used nine indicators, including overall physical activity, participation in organised sports, active play, active transport, sedentary behaviour, family and peers, school, community and the environment, and government strategies and investments.
It found that the number of children who take part in physical activity has been declining for some time.
In 2005, about 20 per cent of secondary school children achieved the 60-minute target, but the figure fell to 17 per cent in 2010, according to student health surveys.
The findings pose serious questions for the health of the young and the UAE’s efforts to tackle childhood obesity.
“The message is that we need to get the population more physically active,” said Dr Tom Loney, the report’s chief scientific officer and an assistant professor of public health at UAE University.
“There has been a lot of focus on diet over the past decade, and now I think the message is that people need to be physically active.”
According to the report, 16 per cent of Emirati children in Abu Dhabi, 17.4 per cent in Dubai, 15.9 per cent in the Northern Emirates and 15 per cent in Sharjah were active for an hour per day in 2005.
As for expatriate children, 23 per cent in Abu Dhabi, 23.2 per cent in Dubai, 23 per cent in the Northern Emirates and 24.5 per cent in Sharjah were active for an hour per day that year.
In both groups, more boys were active than girls.
Dr Loney said finding a culturally appropriate and enjoyable activity for women was an important first step.
“Don’t just look at the number of PE lessons but at what they’re doing in the lessons. Look at the kind of physical activity that they can carry on into adulthood,” he said.
The report was produced by researchers from UAE University and New York University Abu Dhabi, as well as Dr Abdulla Al Junaibi – a paediatric endocrinologist at Zayed Military Hospital.
It also said that “the government has invested significant funds and resources into developing and implementing policies, strategies, services, and facilities that will increase physical activity levels in both children and adults”.
The report added: “Since 2010, physical education classes have been compulsory in all schools from Year 1 of kindergarten to Year 12 of secondary school across the UAE.”
Dr Marwa Abdelfattah, a paediatrician at Brightpoint Royal Women’s Hospital, said she was not surprised by the report’s findings.
“The figures are very realistic. It’s obvious that children don’t practise sports here. Girls are far lagging behind when compared to boys,” she said.
“Cultural beliefs are a reason for this. Girls can’t walk or cycle to school. The weather is also very hot, so parents are reluctant to let their children cycle or walk.”
Encouraging schools to regularly stage sports days and encourage children to participate in sports was important, Dr Abdelfattah said.
Andy Wood, principal of Greenfield Community School in Dubai, said physical education classes were compulsory at the school. “We have some good female teachers encouraging wider participation of girls,” he said. “Children of all ages to love to play and it’s about harnessing that natural playfulness by providing them the opportunity to play.”
newsdesk@thenational.ae
