Health, Physical Activity and NCD Prevention
Using sport and physical activity to promote health and reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases.
Non-communicable diseases — hypertension, type 2 diabetes, obesity, stroke and some cancers — account for a growing share of illness and death in Ghana. Physical inactivity is one of the risk factors behind them, and it is among the most affordable to address. A ball, an open space and a coach reach far more people than a clinic can.
Why physical activity
Regular physical activity lowers blood pressure, helps regulate blood sugar, supports a healthy weight and improves cardiovascular fitness. These are the same risk factors that drive the NCD burden, which means the intervention and the problem meet in the same place.
Sport also carries people past the barrier that stops most health advice working: it is something they already want to do. Nobody needs persuading to play football. Attaching health knowledge to that is far easier than creating the motivation from nothing.
How our sessions work
Our sessions pair physical activity with health education, so turning up to play also means hearing about healthy eating, the risks of a sedentary routine, and the warning signs worth taking to a clinic. We cover communicable disease awareness alongside it, including HIV/AIDS and the stigma that keeps people from testing.
The approach is deliberately low-cost and repeatable. It needs space, equipment that can be carried, and people trained to run it — which is what lets a session happen in a community that has no sports facility.
What this programme does
- Regular physical activity to lower NCD risk factors such as high blood pressure, raised blood sugar and obesity
- Health education delivered alongside sport sessions rather than separately
- HIV/AIDS awareness and work to reduce stigma around testing
- Promoting active routines for children, youth and adults
Our other initiatives
- Scholarships for Students in NeedScholarships and mentoring so that money is not what decides whether a young person finishes school.
- Education and Life SkillsUsing sport to teach leadership, teamwork, communication and problem solving.
- Social InclusionPlay that is open to everyone, as a practical way to reduce exclusion and discrimination.
- Gender Equity and EmpowermentCreating space for women and girls in sport, and the leadership that follows from it.
- Conflict Prevention and Peace BuildingUsing sport as common ground where communities can meet, talk and resolve differences.