National Strategy for the Promotion of Sport against Sedentarism and Physical Inactivity 2025-2030
Presentation
Many are the losses left by the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, also in Spain. A crisis that affected the practice of sport, but which confirmed the importance of a healthy and active life. Thus, the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, approved on June 16, 2021, in its Component 26 of Promotion of the Sports Sector contemplated three reforms and three other major investments. One of these reforms is the National Strategy for the Promotion of Sport against Sedentarism and Physical Inactivity.
This National Strategy is of fundamental importance, given the impact of physical activity in the promotion of an active life for the social, cultural and economic development of the States and their inhabitants. Regular physical activity, in line with current World Health Organization guidelines, helps prevent non-communicable diseases and pathologies such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some types of cancer, while preventing hypertension, overweight and obesity and improving mental health, quality of life and well-being.
The most active societies generate additional benefits among their population: lower use of fossil fuels, cleaner air and safer and less congested roads. These results are connected with the achievement of shared goals, political priorities and ambitions reflected in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
At present, there are three elements that demonstrate the need to approve and implement the present National Strategy for the Promotion of Sport against Sedentarism and Physical Inactivity. The first is that, despite the negative effects caused by the confinement of the population as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, citizens have verified and expressed the need to incorporate physical activity into their daily lives; the second of the elements to highlight is that international organizations related to health demand national policies to combat sedentarism and its consequences on the health of citizens; and, finally, the third is the end of the period of validity of the “Integral Plan for Physical Activity and Sport - Plan A+D”, designed by the Superior Council of Sports.
These circumstances result in an active commitment of the Government of Spain, in collaboration with the other administrations, to physical activity, projecting a new set of measures in the future around the Strategy presented below. It is a comprehensive proposal for the promotion of sport and for the fight against sedentarism and physical inactivity.
To this end, it delves, initially, into an analysis of the importance and impact of the promotion of an active life in the current context. Below is a brief analysis of the legislative and normative framework of reference in the international context. Once we understand the context in which this National Strategy should generate its results, we define its vision, mission and values. After this previous scheme, the document deals in detail with different strategic lines with their respective axes of intervention and specific actions.
Through this Strategy, the Government of Spain and this Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports assume the commitment to provide the necessary tools and means so that the entire Spanish population has better access to the practice of physical and sports activity of quality and safety, thus increasing
the levels of physical and sports activity and, consequently, improving health and well-being in our country. A country in which being physically active is the norm and not extraordinary behavior, and in which its citizens live in a society that facilitates, promotes and supports an active and healthy way of life.
Madrid, December 2024
Pilar Alegría Continent
Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports
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