Health Physical Activity

Dr Wisdom Atiwoto, the Director of Research at the Ministry of Health, has advised the public to be active and stay healthy by ensuring that they neither over-exercise nor under-exercise.

 
 He said this had become necessary as people often engaged in sport in the name of staying fit but ended up injuring themselves in the process.

 
Dr Atiwoto, also the Focal Person for Sport and Health, gave the advice during the first National Multistakeholder Committee meeting for 2025 under the International Olympics Committee for Sport and Health Initiative in Accra.

 
He said while over-exercising could, among other things, lead to decreased performance, impaired immune system, hormonal imbalances, and dehydration, under-exercising could also cause decreased strength, breathlessness, and increased risk of disease as well as psychological consequences.

 
 ”While sport is supposed to be for the improvement of health, a lot of people do it wrongly and they rather get health problems.

What we are saying is that sport is very risky but there is also a way to do it in a manner that will not hurt or harm you.” 

 
“It’s a sport for health, not sport for injury or sport for harm.

So, my key advice is that let’s do it the scientific way, by doing it in moderation,” he added.

 
Dr Atiwoto said it was important for people to maintain a balance while exercising and rather ensure consistency to achieve their goals.

 
The Community Sport and Health Cooperation initiative seeks to improve community sport to reduce the increasing cases of Non-Communicable Diseases in the country.

 
The three-year project is led by a Global Steering Committee, including the International Olympic Committee and the World Health Organisation (WHO), and implemented in Ghana by PATH.

 
It aims to strengthen collaborations between the sports and health sectors through implementing co-created sport-based community programmes jointly delivered by health sports stakeholders to increase participation to improve physical, mental, and social wellbeing.

 
The meeting reviewed activities for 2024 and outlined plans for 2025.

 
The Director of Research called for collaboration among the various ministries and partners to ensure that the targets and objectives of the project were achieved.

 
Dr George Amofah, the Technical Director of Non-Communicable Diseases PATH, said the committee exceeded their target for 2024 and was hopeful that they would be able to do the same for 2025.

 
He said so far, the project was challenged with funding to be able to reach the communities, a lack of people reporting on physical and health activities they had embarked on, as well as getting organizations to be part of the initiative.

 
Dr. Amofah urged the public to be involved in physical activity, irrespective of what they were doing, and find themselves saying, “Just be active, move, and don’t stay inactive to help improve your health.”