One in four adolescents worldwide reported not getting at least 60 minutes of physical activity on any day in the previous week.
According to new global estimates released by the World Health Organization (WHO) today, this amounts to some 240 million young people aged 11–17 years who reported not completing at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on any day in the previous week. On average, adolescents reported being active for just 2.7 days a week, while only 14% reported being active on all seven days.
The findings point to a lack of global progress over the past 15 years, with levels of physical activity among adolescents virtually unchanged during this time.
Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. Helping young people develop active habits early in life is critical to protecting their health and reducing the global burden of these diseases.
“For 15 years, the world has made almost no progress in getting young people moving, and girls are being left furthest behind,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
The new study, published in The Lancet Global Health, draws on 389 population-based surveys from 140 countries and territories, involving more than 3.2 million adolescents.
The gender gap in adolescent physical activity levels remains strikingly persistent. Twenty-eight per cent of girls reported no active days, compared with 22% of boys. Only 11% of girls reported being active every day, compared with 17% of boys. Girls were less active than boys in almost every country and every WHO Region.
There were also stark differences between countries. In some, just 4% of adolescents reported no active days. In others, the figure exceeded 40%.
There is no single explanation for the lack of global progress. Physical activity is shaped by where adolescents live, learn, travel and spend their free time. Transport patterns, access to safe public spaces, opportunities for safe walking and cycling, school environments, affordability, social norms and increasingly screen-based lifestyles can all influence adolescents’ opportunities to be active.
The challenge is not simply to persuade adolescents to move more. It is to create environments that make being active a normal and easy part of growing up.
WHO is calling for stronger action across the education, transport, urban planning, sport and health sectors, alongside efforts to address the multiple barriers faced by girls.
Countries need policies that make physical activity an easy, safe and accessible part of everyday life. Promoting physical activity in schools, investing in safe walking and cycling routes, and creating more active communities can give young people more opportunities to move, play and be active in their everyday lives.
Meanwhile, expert groups convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) have recommended adding two new Ebola vaccine candidates to the ongoing Tumaini clinical trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The recommendation marks the first time vaccines specifically designed to protect against Bundibugyo virus, the virus responsible for the current outbreak, will be evaluated during an outbreak of the disease.
The two vaccine candidates are ChAdOx1, developed by the University of Oxford with the Serum Institute of India, and Moderna’s mRNA-1469. WHO’s independent Technical Advisory Group on Candidate Vaccine Prioritization recommended both for further clinical evaluation this week, based on available preclinical and early clinical evidence.
The companies were informed on Monday. The vaccine candidates will enter the trial following national approvals.
The Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale, the DRC’s national public health and biomedical research institute is leading the vaccines trial, with support from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, WHO, Epicentre, Médecins Sans Frontières, the Institute of Tropical Medicine of Antwerp, and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The rapid development of candidate vaccines is made possible by investments by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
complementary post-exposure prophylaxis study with obeldevisir is underway.
WHO is supporting research during the Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak through its R&D Blueprint and Health Emergencies Programme, including developing research protocols, providing strategic and technical advice, coordinating among partners, and providing operational support to embed rigorous and ethical studies within the response. Initial findings from the treatment trials are expected in the coming months, with results from the vaccine trial expected in early 2027.
Also, the WHO reported major global progress against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), with 63 countries having eliminated at least one NTD by June 2026, up from 42 at the end of 2020.
WHO’s Global report on neglected tropical diseases 2026, a midterm assessment of the 2021–2030 NTD road map, shows that more countries are eliminating NTDs and fewer people need treatment.
Findings reveal that the number of people requiring interventions fell to 1.41 billion in 2024, down 36% since 2010 and 19% since 2020. Cases of sleeping sickness have dropped by 98% since 1999, while Guinea worm disease fell to a record low of just 10 human cases in 2025.
The report concludes that faster and sustained action will be needed to meet the 2030 targets, while recognizing the progress achieved despite limited resources. It calls on affected countries to increase domestic financing and integrate NTD interventions into universal health coverage and adapt programmes to conflict settings and climate change where needed.
