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| National Physical Activity Plan | |
|---|---|
| Name | National Physical Activity Plan |
| Formed | 2010 |
| Jurisdiction | United States |
National Physical Activity Plan is a coordinated policy framework created to increase population-level physical activity across the United States by aligning public health, health care, education, transportation, recreation, and private sector stakeholders. The plan was developed through collaboration among organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American College of Sports Medicine, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Heart Association, and was launched in a national convening that included representatives from the White House and major foundations. Designed as a multi-sector blueprint, the plan provides strategies intended to influence environments, systems, and policies in communities, workplaces, schools, and healthcare settings.
The plan originated from efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine alongside the National Park Service, the Yale School of Public Health, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and advocates associated with the Trust for Public Land and the Bicycle Coalition of America. Early development drew on evidence synthesized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and recommendations from the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans and consultation with advisory groups including leaders from the American Public Health Association, the Society of Behavioral Medicine, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Governors Association. Stakeholder convenings included representatives from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Recreation and Park Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and private partners such as the Kaiser Permanente system and the YMCA of the USA.
The plan articulates goals to increase population-level activity and reduce disparities, drawing strategic objectives from frameworks used by the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American College of Sports Medicine, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Objectives include improving access to active transportation as promoted by the Federal Highway Administration and the League of American Bicyclists, enhancing school physical education programs aligned with guidance from the National Association for Sport and Physical Education and the Department of Education, integrating physical activity counseling in systems like the Patient-Centered Medical Home and recommendations from the American Medical Association, and expanding community design practices advocated by the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Urban Land Institute. Cross-cutting aims emphasize equity, supported by initiatives from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and civil rights groups such as the NAACP.
Implementation relied on multi-sector partnerships with federal agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the U.S. Department of Education as well as nongovernmental organizations like the American Heart Association, the American College of Sports Medicine, the National Recreation and Park Association, the YMCA of the USA, and foundations such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Kresge Foundation. State public health departments, county health agencies, and municipal planning offices collaborated with professional associations including the American Planning Association, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, and the National Association of County and City Health Officials to translate strategies into practice. Corporate partners such as Nike, Inc., Google, and IBM were engaged for workplace programs, while community-based organizations like the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the Girl Scouts of the USA, and the American Indian Health Commission for Washington State supported localized interventions.
States and localities adapted the plan through tailored action plans developed by agencies such as the California Department of Public Health, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and metropolitan planning organizations including the Metropolitan Planning Organization network and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Local implementations frequently involved partnerships with municipal parks departments, school districts like Chicago Public Schools and Los Angeles Unified School District, transit agencies such as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and advocacy groups like Active Living by Design and the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. Regional coalitions formed in places including Seattle, Boston, Austin, Texas, and Minneapolis to integrate land use, transportation, and recreation priorities reflecting practices from the Congress for the New Urbanism and the American Planning Association.
Evaluation efforts have been conducted by academic centers at institutions such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Michigan School of Public Health, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, often funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Outcome measures include population surveillance using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, school-based metrics from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, and transportation mode shifts tracked by the National Household Travel Survey and metropolitan planning organizations. Reports have documented increases in active-transport infrastructure, modest improvements in population activity levels in some jurisdictions, and enhanced cross-sector collaboration, with evaluations also referencing frameworks from the Institute of Medicine and the World Health Organization.
Critiques of the plan have come from scholars at institutions like the Brookings Institution, the Urban Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, and independent researchers affiliated with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, focusing on issues such as limited funding for sustained implementation, challenges in measuring long-term behavior change in datasets like the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and uneven adoption across states including comparisons between California and Mississippi. Other challenges noted by the Institute of Medicine and public health researchers include political barriers in transportation policy debates involving the Federal Highway Administration and resistance from property development interests represented by the National Association of Home Builders, as well as disparities highlighted by advocacy groups such as the NAACP and the National Council of La Raza.