"It Is Like Medicine": Using Sports to Promote Adult Women's Health in Rural Kenya.

Francis Barchi,Brittany Ammerman,Bendettah M Thomas,Samantha C Winter,Millan A Abinader,Daniel Mbogo,Lena M Obara

doi:10.3390/ijerph18052347

Abstract

Despite the well-documented health benefits of recreational sports, few opportunities exist in lower- and middle-income countries for adult women to participate in recreational physical activities. An explanatory sequential mixed methods approach was used to explore associations between an innovative soccer program for adult women and self-reported health status. Cross-sectional survey data were collected in 2018–2019 from 702 women in the Nikumbuke Project, a health and literacy program in southeastern rural Kenya, followed by focus group discussions with 225 women who also participated in the Project’s soccer program. Quantitative findings suggest that women who participated in soccer had 67% greater odds of reporting good or excellent health than their non-soccer playing peers. Thematic analysis of qualitative data indicated that women credited soccer with less pain, fatigue, and stress, as well as weight loss and reduced dependence on medicine for hypertension, pain, and sleep problems. Women equated health benefits with greater ease and efficiency in completing chores, reduced worries, youthful energy, male-like strength, and pleased husbands. Soccer programs for adult women may be particularly effective interventions in settings where access to health care is limited and where lack of opportunity to engage in physical aerobic activity increases women’s risks for poor health outcomes.

Highlights

Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals calls for the reduction of non-communicable disease (NCD)-related mortality by one-third within the decade [1]
Epidemiologic data suggest that this target is attainable only if major reductions in NCD-related mortality in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), which bear as much as 80% of the NCD
While rates of key NCD-risk behaviors such as tobacco and harmful alcohol use are higher in males than females, women are at greater risk of being overweight/obese, and, in LMIC countries, the rate of obesity is increasing at a faster rate in rural areas than urban ones [3]

Summary

Introduction

Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals calls for the reduction of non-communicable disease (NCD)-related mortality by one-third within the decade [1]. Epidemiologic data suggest that this target is attainable only if major reductions in NCD-related mortality in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), which bear as much as 80% of the NCD burden, are achieved [2]. While rates of key NCD-risk behaviors such as tobacco and harmful alcohol use are higher in males than females, women are at greater risk of being overweight/obese, and, in LMIC countries, the rate of obesity is increasing at a faster rate in rural areas than urban ones [3]. In Kenya, 38.5% of women aged 18–44 years are estimated to have a Body Mass Index (BMI) in excess of 25 (overweight) and rates of obesity in women increase across the lifespan [6].

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion