The physical activity and health promotion activities of global university students: a review of reviews

Abstract

University students globally are reportedly living unhealthy lifestyles, challenging universities to develop physical activity (PA) and health promotion (HP) intervention strategies. The current study aimed to review global universities’ physical activity and health promotion activities to inform the PA and HP guidelines for Eswatini university students in the Sub-Saharan region. An electronic search was performed for review articles published between 1996 and 2021, using Cochrane, Google Scholar, PubMed Central, Scopus, and Medline Web of Science databases. The documents reviewed showed that some global universities under investigation follow the health promoting university (HPU) concept influenced by the Ottawa charter (1986). The review articles further showed that implementing the healthy university concept differs due to cultural and contextual differences from one institution to another. The reviews showed the main item areas as smoking control/alcohol and drug abuse, mental health, sexual health, physical activities, healthy eating habits/diet categorized under health promotion. The main PA activities were pedometer activity tracking, measurement of PA using validated questionnaires, sports, games, among other intervention activities. The HPU concept is thus a good starting point that can be promoted and spread to all other universities globally with different charters’ guidance, including the Ottawa charter and the Okanagan charter.