The special meeting on the formulation of ASEAN Physical Fitness Indicators (APFI) was organised by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Thailand on 28 February. The meeting aimed at exchanging health and fitness indicators, and other relevant tools commonly used in the ASEAN Member States to gather information related to population, health and fitness, and health and fitness system performance in ASEAN. Participants included sports officials and practitioners, health and fitness experts, and representatives of the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Sports from Cambodia Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Singapore.
Six health-based physical fitness indicators identified were cardiovascular endurance, muscle strength, muscle endurance, flexibility, body mass index, and sports participation rate. These indicators will comprise the AFPI and will serve as basis in collecting data on the level of physical fitness of ASEAN. Other discussion points were the definitions of physical fitness in the context of ASEAN as well as the overlap and links between sports and health indicators. The meeting also agreed to include three age and population groups in the AFPI development which are children and youth, adults, and elderly.
Participants also raised potential challenges in the AFPI development such as standard methodology of data collection, capacity of Member States to collect data consistently, and participation of all relevant ASEAN sectors and stakeholders. The meeting agreed to strengthen technical cooperation on AFPI between and among the ten Member States and recommended further consultation on the AFPI framework at the 7th ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Sports in Nay Pyi Taw in October 2017.
The AFPI forms part of the ASEAN Work Plan on Sports 2016-2020 with Thailand as the lead country.
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