Do local governments in Poland care about the physical activity of the local community? Health promotion activities targeting physical activity organized by local government units

SOBCZYK, Karolina & SAS-NOWOSIELSKI, Krzysztof. Do local governments in Poland care about the physical activity of the local community? Health promotion activities targeting physical activity organized by local government units. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2023;13(3):191-199. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2023.13.03.028 https://apcz.umk.pl/JEHS/article/view/41484 https://zenodo.org/record/7600092 The journal has had 40 points in Ministry of Education and Science of Poland parametric evaluation. Annex to the announcement of the Minister of Education and Science of December 21, 2021. No. 32343. Has a Journal's Unique Identifier: 201159. Scientific disciplines assigned: Physical Culture Sciences (Field of Medical sciences and health sciences); Health Sciences (Field of Medical Sciences and Health Sciences). Punkty Ministerialne z 2019 - aktualny rok 40 punktów. Załącznik do komunikatu Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z dnia 21 grudnia 2021 r. Lp. 32343. Posiada Unikatowy Identyfikator Czasopisma: 201159. Przypisane dyscypliny naukowe: Nauki o kulturze fizycznej (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu); Nauki o zdrowiu (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu). © The Authors 2023; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 20.12.2022. Revised: 17.01.2023. Accepted: 17.01.2023. Do local governments in Poland care about the physical activity of the local community? Health promotion activities targeting physical activity organized by local government units Karolina Sobczyk1*, Krzysztof Sas-Nowosielski2 1 Department of Humanistic Foundations of Physical Culture, Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education in Katowice, Katowice, Poland. ORCID: 0000-0003-1632-7246 2 Department of Humanistic Foundations of Physical Culture, Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education in Katowice, Katowice, Poland. ORCID: 0000-0002-9569-5954 *Correspondence: Karolina Sobczyk, PhD Piekarska 18 41902 Bytom, Poland ksobczyk@sum.edu.pl Abstract Introduction. When it comes to physical activity, activities at the local government level are extremely important, including, among other things, investing in the development of recreational and sports infrastructure in municipalities and counties, as well as implementing and financing health programs aimed at promoting physical activity among the population. Also, activities at the central level, implemented by the ministries of education, health, or transportation, aiming to implement policies that encourage the public to move, have a significant impact on the level of physical activity among young people. Objective. The study aimed to assess the prevalence of implementation of public health tasks by local government units in Poland, with a particular focus on activities in the area of physical activity. Material and methods. The study was conducted from May 13, 2020, to October 31, 2021. (18 months) in electronic form. The research group consisted of 1,118 representatives of local government offices of two levels: municipal (962 offices; 91.9% of the total) and district (91 offices; 8.1% of the total). According to the state at the time of the survey (as of 01.01.2021), Poland is divided into 16 provinces, 314 counties 2,477 municipalities (302 urban including 66 cities with county rights, 652 urban-rural and 1,523 rural). The survey covered 41.5% of municipalities and 29% of districts in Poland. Results and conclusions. The vast majority of local governments declare that they undertake activities in the area of physical activity, and these activities are often undertaken in cooperation with other local governments. Local governments very rarely implement health policy programs that include interventions in the area of physical activity, and among the reasons for not implementing such activities they usually point to financial and staffing problems. The promotion of physical activity is one of the three main areas of cooperation between local governments and non-government organizations, and their main scope is limited to informational and educational interventions. Keywords: physical activity, health policy programs, local government units, public health