Report Card team from New Zealand has recently published a paper titled “Results from Aotearoa New Zealand’s 2022 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth: A call to address inequities in health-promoting activities” in the Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness. Citation details and a summary of the paper are below.

Congratulations, Team New Zealand!

Background
This article reports the methods and findings for Aotearoa New Zealand’s 2022 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth indicators, and on inequities within these indicators.

Methods
Grades were assigned to indicators using the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance criteria depending on data availability, and inequities reported based on gender, ethnicity, disability status, area-level socioeconomic deprivation, urbanicity, and school year. Two additional indicators were included in this report card: Sleep, and Physical literacy.

Results
Grades were assigned to indicators as follows: Overall physical activity: C+, Organised sport and physical activity: B-, Physical literacy: B, Active transportation: D, Sedentary behaviours: C-, Sleep: B+, Whānau (family) and peers: D, School: C+, Government: A. Inequities across all socio-demographic variables were observed. An ‘inconclusive’ grade was assigned to the Active play, Physical fitness, and Community and Environment indicators due to insufficient data.

Conclusion
It is imperative that targeted, comprehensive, and population-specific approaches are implemented to support health-promoting physical activity behaviours and reduce inequities among children and youth in Aotearoa. There is a need to promote all dimensions of physical activity (overall activity, active play, recreation, organised sport, active transportation) and the reduction of screen time through policy, research, evidence-based social marketing campaigns, and urban design. Regular, nationally representative surveys that enable the consistent and regular measurement of key Report Card indicators are needed.