SBG: embrace sports for health

“Get into sports and stay away from drugs to keep healthy and fit.” This was the reminder from Senator Christopher “Bong” Go as he called for stronger efforts to promote healthy and active lifestyles among Filipino youth, following a World Health Organization (WHO) study showing that four in 10 Filipino adolescents failed to achieve at least 60 minutes of physical activity on any day of the previous week.

Go, a health reform advocate and vice chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health, emphasized the need to address sedentary lifestyles early to reduce the long-term risks of cardiovascular disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other preventable illnesses.

The WHO study, published in The Lancet Global Health on 4 November, found that about 40.3 percent of Filipino adolescents aged 11 to 17 reported having no day in the previous week when they engaged in at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.

The Philippine figure was substantially higher than the global average of approximately 25 percent, placing the country among those with the highest proportions of adolescents reporting no active days.