Kangwerema Allan, Miggo Mictum, Harawa Gracian, Kazanga-Chiumia Isabel, Haruna Usman Abubakar, Safari Jackson, Lutala Prosper, Kaunda John Thumbiko
Clinical Department Nkhatabay District Hospital Nkhata Bay Malawi.
Clinical Department Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital Blantyre Malawi.
Public Health Chall. 2023 Jan 28;2(1):e64. doi: 10.1002/puh2.64. eCollection 2023 Mar.
There is evidence that physical inactivity and dietary factors are more common among modifiable risk factors for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) which are on the rise in Malawi. Football has been shown to have a wide range of health-related benefits in health education programs, including the promotion of physical activity as a potential intervention in addressing NCDs. In Malawi, few football-based health promotion programs have been implemented to address NCDs. Among the programs implemented were the Federation Internationale de Football Association 11 for Health initiative which was a school-based health education program for the youth and the Malawi Ministry of Health's SPORTS FOR HEALTH initiative targeting civil servants. These programs produced significant improvement in physical activity in the participants and also increased their knowledge of both communicable and NCDs. However, these initiatives were not rolled out to many sites across Malawi. As Malawi is tackling rising cases of NCDs, football can be used as a powerful tool in promoting physical activity and it also provides an important platform for the delivery of NCDs' health promotion messages to a wider audience. Such football-based initiatives must be designed to directly address modifiable risk factors of NCDs. For successful implementation, there must be a good collaboration among the Ministries of Health and Sports, local football leagues, and other stakeholders.
有证据表明，身体活动不足和饮食因素在马拉维日益增多的非传染性疾病（NCDs）的可改变风险因素中更为常见。在健康教育项目中，足球已被证明具有广泛的健康相关益处，包括促进身体活动，作为应对非传染性疾病的一种潜在干预措施。在马拉维，很少有基于足球的健康促进项目来应对非传染性疾病。实施的项目包括国际足球联合会的“11人健康”倡议，这是一项针对青少年的校内健康教育项目，以及马拉维卫生部针对公务员的“健康运动”倡议。这些项目使参与者的身体活动有了显著改善，也增加了他们对传染病和非传染性疾病的了解。然而，这些倡议并没有推广到马拉维的许多地方。由于马拉维正在应对不断增加的非传染性疾病病例，足球可以作为促进身体活动的有力工具，它还为向更广泛的受众传递非传染性疾病的健康促进信息提供了一个重要平台。此类基于足球的倡议必须旨在直接解决非传染性疾病的可改变风险因素。为了成功实施，卫生和体育部、当地足球联赛及其他利益相关者之间必须有良好的合作。
