The Education, Vocational Training, Physical Activity, and Sports Counselor of the Government of the Canary Islands, Poli Suárez, and the Director General of Care Programs at the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS), Antonia María Pérez, presented ACTÍVATE on Friday, the Canary system for prescribing physical activity and exercise, which will begin operating in the second half of the year with the first care units.
This new public, universal, and free service will allow primary care health personnel to prescribe physical activity to the public and refer them to the Active Physical Exercise Units (UAEF), where physical education and sports educators will design and supervise personalized exercise programs adapted to each user, as reported by the regional Education and Health departments in a press release.
The Canary Islands Education Counselor, Poli Suárez, stated that this presentation marks «a new historic step towards a more active and healthy Canary Islands.»
He ensured that ACTÍVATE «is here to stay, to gradually grow throughout the archipelago,» framed in the strategic line of placing the prevention and physical activity of citizens at the «center of public policies.» The system, he explained, is «designed with responsibility, institutional coordination, following the example of the most advanced autonomous communities in these systems, and with the support of experts and citizens.»
On the other hand, the Director General of Care Programs at the SCS, Antonia María Pérez, acknowledged that the implementation of ACTÍVATE «represents a fundamental advance» in integrating health and physical activity as axes of well-being in the community.
She added that they not only promote exercise as a preventive tool but also transform the way primary care is understood, «bringing it even closer to active and personalized prevention.» She highlighted the «importance of a strategy based on collaborative work between disciplines, with a scientific basis and adapted to the real needs of the Canary population.»
### ACTÍVATE
ACTÍVATE is the result of a joint and coordinated process between the Sports and Health departments that began in January 2024 with the signing of the agreement between both departments to collaborate in its implementation. From that moment, five working groups were created with 40 professionals — twenty from the health sector and twenty from the sports sector — who drafted the first version of the strategy.
Next, the document underwent a public consultation process, allowing the direct participation, through contributions, of professional associations, universities, councils, municipalities, and the public. Finally, the Canary Strategy for the Prescription of Physical Activity and Exercise was approved by the Government of the Canary Islands on November 20, 2024.
Subsequently, the coordinated work between both departments continued with the implementation of coordination protocols between Primary Care and the UAEF, as well as with the definition of the graphic identity of the service — which resulted in the birth of ACTÍVATE — and the organizational structure of the system.
In parallel, the implementation of a digital tool that will articulate the entire prescription, referral, and monitoring process has begun. This platform, which will have a mobile application to facilitate access to the service for the public, is connected to the information system of the Canary Islands Health Service and is being designed by the University of Granada, which has experience in creating a similar application for the Andalusian Government, a reference for the Canary model.
Currently in the development phase, it is expected that the first version will be operational during the second half of the year with the launch of the service.
The development of this tool has been carried out through an agreement signed by this Andalusian university with the Elder Museum of Science and Technology, which also participates in the project through the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan of the Spanish Government, financed by the European Union-Next Generation EU, reinforcing the strategic nature of the service and its commitment to sustainability over time.
To ensure a homogeneous and coordinated implementation of the model throughout the territory, professionals from both sectors will receive specific training: in July for sports professionals, by the General Council of Official Colleges of Graduates in Physical Education and Sports Sciences (COLEF), and from June onwards for health professionals through the School of Health and Social Services of the Canary Islands.
However, it is emphasized that the system deployment will be gradual, although it is planned that during the summer, the first pilot referrals will be activated, and the first UAEF will be set up throughout the Canary Islands during the second half of the year.
These sports care centers will be connected to Primary Care centers through the digital tool currently in development, as well as with the sports system through the existing physical activity resources in the various municipalities.
The units will be staffed by professionals with degrees in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences who have received specific training on ACTÍVATE.
FUENTE