Human rights health care measures reporting physical fitness test for ages 6 to 17 with 10-year follow-up

• Date: 02 August 2024
• Pages: 92-106
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHRH-12-2023-0092
• Published date: 02 August 2024
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Vulnerable groups,Inequalities & diverse/minority groups,Sociology,Race & ethnic studies,Minorities,Multiculturalism,Racial identity,Work,economy & organizations
• Author: Satomi Fujimori,Kazuki Ashida,Noriaki Watanabe,Tomoyuki Nishino,Fumihito Sasamori,Masao Okuhara,Hisaaki Tabuchi,Koji Terasawa

Human rights health care measures

reporting physical f‌itness test for

ages 6 to 17 with 10-year follow-up

Satomi Fujimori, Kazuki Ashida, Noriaki Watanabe, Tomoyuki Nishino, Fumihito Sasamori,

Masao Okuhara, Hisaaki Tabuchi and Koji Terasawa

Abstract

Purpose –This study aimsto compare the physical fitness test resultsof Japanese children in 2008 and

2018 to narrow the gap between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy and extend healthy life

expectancy. In addition, this paper sought to explore the potential of implementing health education

programsas a new social context to promote race equality and human rightsin health and social care.

Design/methodology/approach –This study was conductedin 2008 and 2018 in Nagano Prefecture,

Japan. Physical fitnesstests related to growth and development were administeredto participants aged

6–17years.

Findings –Physical fitness measurementsin 2018, specifically those for walking ability and endurance,

were significantly inferior to those in 2008. In a gender-specific analysis, boys outperformed girls in

muscle strength, muscleendurance, walking ability and endurancetests, while girls outperformed boys

in the balancetest.

Research limitations/implications –Most of the junior and senior high school students who

participated in the EO test exceeded the upper limit of 120s, suggesting that the load of the

measurement methodis low and improvement is necessary.In 2018, a large variation in 6M results was

observed among participants,possibly due to the differences in the level of seriousness duringthe 6M

test. Therefore, to ensure that junior and senior high school students properly perform the EO and 6M

tests, it is necessary to devise an effective method of implementation, such as changing the physical

fitnesstest load.

Originality/value –Mere health education is ineffective to address health inequalities. Addressing

structural factors is essential to avoid unintended consequences such as increasing the gap between

groups of people. However, one way to extend healthy life expectancy is to improve overall health,

including differences in the health status of groups due to differences in region and socioeconomic

status.

Keywords Children, Gender, Human rights, Health promotion, Life expectancy, Physical f‌itness,

Health equity, Race equality

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

Health education for children has been reported to have a significant effect on their growth

(WHO: World Health Organization, 2022;UNICEF: United Nations Children’s Fund, 2022)

(CDC) (Muennig et al.,2011). In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) has

reported that in a rapidly aging global society, extending healthy life expectancy (HLE) can

lead to decreased medical expenses (WHO: World Health Organization, 2015b). Currently,

in Japan, a gap of nearly 10years exists between the average HLE and the life expectancy

at birth, and this situation has continued for more than 20years (WHO: World Health

Organization, 2019). Therefore, the challenge for public health in Japan is to build a system

(Informationabout the

authorscan be found at the

end of this article.)

Received 6 December 2023

Revised 18 February 2024

Accepted 17 March 2024

©Satomi Fujimori, Kazuki

Ashida, Noriaki Watanabe,

Tomoyuki Nishino, Fumihito

Sasamori, Masao Okuhara,

Hisaaki Tabuchi and Koji

Terasawa. Published by

Emerald Publishing Limited.

This article is published under

the Creative Commons

Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence.

Anyone may reproduce,

distribute, translate and create

derivative works of this article

(for both commercial and

non-commercial purposes),

subject to full attribution to the

original publication and

authors. The full terms of this

licence may be seen at http://

creativecommons.org/licences/

by/4.0/legalcode

Funding: Koji Terasawa was

supported by a grant-in-aid for

scientific research (Kiban

A:16H02713) from the Ministry

of Education, Culture, Sports,

Science and Technology of

Japan. The sponsor was not

involved in the study design,

collection, analysis and

interpretation of data, report

writing or the decision to submit

the article for publication.

Conflict of interest: The authors

declare that they have no

conflict of interest.

PAGE 92 jINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN HEALTHCARE jVOL. 18 NO. 1 2025, pp. 92-106, Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2056-4902 DOI 10.1108/IJHRH-12-2023-0092