Editorial

Gino Schiavone is the president of the newly-set up Malta Exercise, Health and Fitness Association and is very enthusiastic about upgrading the general fitness of the population. The idea is to get "more people, more active, more often".

He believes that there is a crying need to get Maltese hooked on to some form of fitness training regime. He proposes the setting up of fitness centres in public areas following patterns already adopted successfully abroad.

Undoubtedly, the people, especially the younger generation, need to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Most have a notoriously wrong attitude to healthy living and this is confirmed by a recent WHO report that places Malta at the top of the league in obesity.

The costs to a country that neglects health promotion and prevention of disease and its contributing factors are incalculable and not just in monetary terms. Health and medical authorities tend to focus too much on treating disease with too little emphasis on prevention.

Such an attitude in the absence of serious measures that uphold and promote positive healthy habits is doomed to be unsustainable. Obesity and its accompanying plethora of medical complications are largely avoidable. A sound, wholesome diet and plenty of physical exercise are indispensable requirements.

For too long we have neglected the rapidly-increasing impact of a sedentary lifestyle that has been compounded by the excessive use of motorised transport and the dependence on mechanisation that have made life less strenuous and physically demanding.

Making gym facilities easily available in public places should be a positive move to motivate people to adopt a wholesome discipline. Unfortunately, gym training is associated with fitness freaks or the well off who have plenty of leisure time on their hands. Mr Schiavone hopes to change this perception and make such training much more inclusive and widely available.

Overseas, various playgrounds and leisure parks boast the availability of certain gym equipment that is rather easy to utilise and is easily accessible. Mr Schiavone also feels that there is room for much greater collaboration with local councils to encourage aerobic and aqua aerobic classes in their localities and introduce other disciplines such as yoga and Pilates. Such activities, unfortunately only pursued by the few, are not dependent on any equipment and, thus, do not involve any outlays. All one needs are qualified instructors to initiate and motivate new adherents.

From the perspective of health promotion such a methodology is sustainable and cost effective. Besides, the benefits of having fit and healthy individuals cannot be computed by dry statistics. The pain and inconvenience of neglecting one's general health cannot figure clearly in health surveys.

Inactivity and the concomitant affliction of obesity are complex issues and various measures need to be adopted and introduced so as to come to grips with this apparently uncontrollable threat to the nation's health.

The proposition of popularising physical training systems that are low cost and easily available should definitely feature in a comprehensive strategy to upgrade the people's fitness levels.