Analysis of the Texts Framing the practice of Health-Promoting Physical Activities in Burkina Faso

Abstract

Physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyle are recognized as risk factors for non-communicable diseases and avoidable mortality. It is in this context that the promotion of physical activity and sport has become a real public health issue and is included in most medical recommendations of learned societies. Multiple determinants affect the adoption of a physically active lifestyle. This situation has led to the development, implementation and coordination of public policy documents that promote the practice of health-promoting physical activities. In this context, the World Health Organization (WHO) has developed the Health Enhancing Physical Activity Policy Analisis Tool (HEPA PAT) to support countries in developing and evaluating strategies and policies that address all the determinants of health-enhancing physical activity. Burkina Faso, like other countries in the world, is confronted with the problem of physical inactivity with its corollaries on health. In order to find palliative solutions to this scourge, the government, through the ministry in charge of sports and leisure, has developed texts to stimulate the practice of physical activities and sports. The objective of this study is to evaluate the policies governing the practice of physical activities and sports in Burkina Faso. To this end, the HEPA PAT tool was used as an analysis model. It was found that the policies governing the practice of physical activity and sport contain only eight of the 17 criteria required to create an appropriate context for the development of health-promoting physical activity and sport. Therefore, it is necessary for the government of Burkina Faso to integrate the nine other criteria without which the expected results cannot be achieved.