FIA To Engage An Extra One Million People With Its More Active 4 Life Campaign, UK

Main Category: Sports Medicine / Fitness
Article Date: 28 Nov 2008 - 3:00 PST

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Full support pledged from Dawn Primarolo, Public Health Minister, and Andrew Lansley, Shadow Health Minister.

The Fitness Industry Association (FIA) yesterday ( Wednesday November 26) announced its aims to engage one million more people - people who are not already 'activity literate' - with a new national campaign, More Active 4 Life.

The announcement, made by Fred Turok, Chairman of the FIA at the annual industry summit 'Delivering A Healthier Britain', is part of the industry's commitment to support the Government's recently launched Change 4 Life campaign.

It was made before an audience of over 300 industry leaders and senior executives representing other organisations committed to supporting the campaign.

Both the Public Health Minister and the Shadow Health Minister spoke at the event, pledging their support for the FIA agenda.

The Rt Hon Dawn Primarolo, Minister of State for Public Health, praised More Active 4 Life and the FIA's professionalism and passion to deliver on its objectives and improve the wellbeing of children and families across the UK; "Working together we can ensure that people grow up healthy, become wealthy and they become wise by understanding the simple relationship between how much they eat and how much they exercise and if they get the balance wrong, they do damage to their health."

Dawn Primarolo made two major announcements at the Summit. She announced that the Department of Health will provide funding for County Sport Partnerships to deliver on their physical activity agenda. Primarolo also confirmed the support from the Department of Health for the National Physical Activity Alliance.

Andrew Lansley CBE MP, applauded the industry's commitment to improving the health of the nation. The Conservatives also welcomed the FIA's contribution to their 'Responsibility Deal' - an innovative response to societal challenges which cannot be solved by regulation and legislation alone.

As the Government's strategic delivery partner, the FIA and its members will prove a critical component of the £275 million nationwide campaign designed to increase physical activity levels and improve the eating habits of a nation which is currently spiraling into a public health crisis of unparalleled proportions. The Change 4 Life campaign is designed to address the fact that 50 per cent of the population will be obese by 2050 and that the NHS will be bankrupt if British consumers do not make immediate and major lifestyle changes. This is the problem the FIA intends to help address.

Speaking at the summit, Fred Turok, said: " Being one of the Government's key delivery partners, we believe that its Change 4 Life campaign can start to turn this public health juggernaut around: this is why we will be announcing the launch of More Active 4 Life, an activity led programme, delivered by 2,500 members and designed to inspire and enable an additional one million people to be more active in their local communities.

"Around 50% of the population is currently not active enough to derive any health benefits from it and this is the very population we will be targeting because inactivity is a major factor contributing to obesity and many other lifestyle related diseases. It will reach out to the morbidly inactive 50%ers and help people who currently take no physical activity, to develop and sustain an interest in their own physical wellbeing.

"If we could get one million more people exercising more regularly, think what impact it will have on the NHS and UK plc. Our aim is simple: exploit our nationwide expertise and resources to inspire the inactive 50% of the population who are not active enough to derive any health benefits from it, to develop healthier lifestyles by making simple, achievable, sustainable changes."

The Fitness Industry Association's Annual Summit-Delivering A Healthier Britain, took place on Wednesday November 26, at Mary Ward House, Bloomsbury from 1pm.

Other speakers included:

- Chris Holmes, Partnerships Director National Social Marketing Centre - "Social Marketing: the new black"
- Shaun Matisonn, CEO, PruHealth, "Return on Investment: Making Prevention Pay"
- Georgina Jupp, MD of CK Academy, ""Engaging the Medical Community - a lesson for smaller operators"
- Liz Cavan, Chair of Council, Chartered Society of Physiotherapists - "Self Referral - The lessons for the fitness industry".

The event was chaired by David Davies OBE, former Executive Director of the Football Association.

Notes

- The FIA is the representative trade body for the UK health and fitness sector, including both the private and public sector. It represents a sector consisting of over 5,700 clubs, 200,000 employees nationwide.
- Recent figures show that a million children in England will be obese within five years.
- The industry serves over one million people every day.

The Fitness Industry Association