Promoting your Health Through Sporting Activities

The fundamental right to health articulated by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1946 remains integral to development today. This right is strongly reflected in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs ), the guiding international development framework adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 2000, and the Human Development Index used to measure the progress of all nations against universal human development goals. Healthy human development is a necessary foundation for all development progress.
Without healthy populations, the achievement of development objectives will be out of reach. Good health is fundamental to the ability of individuals to realize their full human potential. It is also a crucially important economic asset. Low levels of health impede people’s ability to work and earn a living for themselves and their families. When someone becomes ill, an entire family can become trapped in a downward spiral of lost income and high health-care costs. 2 On a national scale, poor population health diminishes productivity and impedes economic growth, while investment in better health outcomes is generally seen as an investment in economic growth.
1.1 HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT : Fight for Peace participants receive training in boxing, wrestling and capoeira (a Brazilian martial art). These sports contribute to the health of young people and provide them with opportunities to earn respect from their peers in a safe and constructive environment, discouraging them from becoming involved in street gangs. Fight for Peace, Brazil Previous page: School girls participate in a stretching game designed to ensure physical activity is healthy, safe and enjoyable.
PREVENTING DISEASE AND PROMOTING HEALTH The close relationship between health and development is responsible for the prominence given to health in the MDGs
. Health is represented in three of the eight MDGs
: • MDG 4: Reduce child mortality; • MDG 5: Improve maternal health; and • MDG 6: Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases. Health is also understood to be a contributing factor to achieving the remaining five MDGs , particularly those related to education, gender equality and the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger.
Achieving the MDGs, however, remains a daunting challenge. If the trends observed since 2000 continue, most low-income countries will require additional resources and assistance to meet their health-related MDGs
. As Table 2.1 shows, the key health issues affecting low- and middle-income countries include, but also extend beyond, those set out in the MDGs . Efforts to address non-communicable diseases, violence, and injuries — and their determinants — are also urgently needed.