And yet another campaign launches to address the chronic shortage of physical activity (and the related health concerns) that we are currently facing as Canadians:
A new public awareness campaign called Create A Movement has been launched to encourage Albertans to take aggressive action to lead healthier lives.
The $2-million campaign aims to encourage young people and their parents to eat healthy and be more active to reduce their risk of obesity and chronic disease.
“The Create A Movement campaign is part of our overall strategy to improve the health of our children and youth,” said Dave Hancock, Minister of Health and Wellness. “While there is increased awareness that eating better and being active are essential to good health, the growing rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes show that we’re not doing enough to be healthy. This campaign urges Albertans to put their knowledge into action – to eat smart and move more and enjoy the benefits of better health.”
The Create A Movement campaign includes a series of television, radio, public transit, print and cinema advertisements directed at young people and parents. A website (no longer live) has been designed to engage and motivate youth to take action on the challenges of healthy living, as well as link them to reliable information on healthy eating and physical activity.
Other campaigns/movements worth noting include:
ActNow – BC wide campaign that promotes healthy lifestyle choices and environments for all BC residents.
Active Communities – The Active Communities Initiative is part of a much larger wellness initiative called ActNow BC (see link above), which is aimed at promoting healthy lifestyle choices and environments.
Abbotsford in Motion – Abbotsford, BC
In-Motion – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. This is the original In-Motion community. For info on In-Motion and other similar communities click here.
Kickstart Kelowna – Kelowna, BC
Manitoba in Motion – Manitoba wide campaign
Participaction – Canadian National Campaign – Remember this campaign?? Well it is also back now.
PausetoPlay campaign and Active 2010 strategy – Ontario
My friend and colleague, Wendy Creelman has been very active in this area for many years. She is the former Project Leader for Abbotsford in Motion and has recently relocated to Kelowna where she is continuing her work in this field as a Consultant.
If you are looking for some statistics and related information on this issue and also on healthy community issues here are few places worth checking out:
Alberta Centre for Active Living – includes a great list of resources links to check out.
How Healthy are Canada’s Communities?
ActNow Resouce Links
This report on the Cost of Physical Inactivity in BC includes some helpful information.
StatsCanada also has some great information available on child and youth health, general health and society and community participation.
Well after sitting in front of my computer preparing this blog posting I am re-inspired to get up and go do something active! I guess as my colleague Wendy would say I had better get myself “in Motion”.