Campaign on Physical Activity and a Primer on Entertainment Education for Health Promotion

Due to lack of awareness and investment, quarter of the adult population and three-fourths of the adolescents do not currently meet the global recommendations for physical activity set by the World Health Organisation. Physical activity levels are also influenced by cultural values, changing patterns of transportation, increased reliance on technology and growing urbanisation. There are also limited opportunities available to people to access safe, affordable and appropriate programmes and spaces to perform physical activities.

The use of entertainment as vehicle for educational content is a science that needs to be understood before planning and execution of interventions. Decision makers usually do not have the required background to review, assess, approve and monitor entertainment education projects. An easy to access reference for decision makers and managers that can help them in understanding the relevance, importance and merits (strengths and weaknesses) of entertainment education project could go a long way in improving their capacity to appreciate the value of this specific genre. This capacity can result in saving time, effort and resources that may otherwise be allocated to concepts, proposals or projects with little potential to achieve the desired results.

Keeping in view the need, Center has provided technical assistance to the World Health Organisation's Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean in developing a social media campaign to promote physical activity and also developed a primer on entertainment-education for health promotion. The primer contains checklists for decision makers and practitioners to effectively apply entertainment education approaches for health promotion.