The government is adopting four measures to increase the physically active population by 15 percent by 2030 compared with 2021, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday at the fourth meeting of the Presidential Office’s Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee.
Through the committee, Lai said he has spent the past year discussing policy, how to coordinate efforts across ministries and inviting the public to participate in policy formation.
The government is involving ministries in building a comprehensive exercise network and encouraging the public to foster better exercise habits, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
This would work toward the committee’s goal of a “healthy Taiwan,” increasing average life expectancy from 79 to 82 within eight years and decreasing the number of unhealthy years from 10 to 8 percent, he said.
Lack of exercise was one of the four major risks leading to noncommunicable diseases or chronic diseases, Lai said, citing the WHO.
Regular exercise is good for physical and mental health, he added.
However, according to a 2021 national health survey, more than half of respondents reported daily exercise lower than the WHO’s suggestion of more than 150 minutes of medium to strong exercise per week, Lai said.
Learning how to be healthy should start from a young age, as people are more likely to continue habits started during their youth, Lai said.
Significant policies would include setting national exercise days, and encouraging the public to know more about specific types of exercises and participate in those events, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Chou Chih-hao (周志浩) said.
Policies to facilitate a more active environment require the administration to work with local governments in urban and transportation planning to increase the number of bike paths, pedestrian paths, and areas or facilities that encourage workouts, Chou said.
The ministry also hopes to encourage those who do not like to exercise, or whose exercise is constrained, to have access to consultations and professional assessment in public sports centers, Chou said.
Deputy Minister of Education Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) said all elementary and junior-high schools have included health promotion and education courses in their curricula.
The Ministry of Education would continue to monitor schools’ adherence to such plans and would be working with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the K-12 Education Administration to enact a national plan for health promotion that would see NT$60 million (US$2 million) in annual subsidies, Chang Liao said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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