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Updated: Aug 6, 2026
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Published on: July 27, 2022
Evaluation of physical activity intervention studies among children and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa using the
Patrick Mkhanyiseli Zimu1, Zethembiso Mabaso2, Avela Mathe1
1Human Movement Sciences, University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa.
Introduction:
Physical inactivity among children and adolescents is an increasing public health concern in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), contributing to the growing burden of non-communicable diseases and poor psychosocial outcomes. Although several physical activity (PA) interventions have been implemented across SSA, limited evidence exists regarding their implementation quality, sustainability and real-world applicability. This scoping review evaluated PA intervention studies among children and adolescents in SSA using the RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation and Maintenance) framework.
Methods:
PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, EBSCOhost (SportDiscus and CINAHL) and Google Scholar were searched for peer-reviewed and grey literature published between January 2010 and July 2025. Studies were included if they reported on PA interventions targeting children and adolescents aged 6-18 years in SSA and addressed at least one RE-AIM dimension. Three reviewers independently conducted screening and data extraction using Covidence and a standardised RE-AIM framework. Data were synthesised using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.
Results:
27 studies met the inclusion criteria. All studies reported on Reach, including participant populations and intervention settings; however, only 33.3% described recruitment strategies and 25.9% addressed participant representativeness. Effectiveness outcomes were mainly physiological (85.2%), while psychosocial (66.7%) and academic outcomes (22.2%) were less frequently reported. Only 14.8% reported adverse events. Adoption was reported in 88.9% of studies, although representativeness and reasons for adoption were poorly described. Implementation fidelity (25.9%), intervention dose (37.0%) and programme cost (11.1%) were inconsistently reported. Maintenance was the least reported dimension (22.2%).
Conclusions:
PA interventions in SSA frequently report reach and effectiveness outcomes, but implementation fidelity, cost and sustainability remain underreported. Improved use of implementation frameworks such as RE-AIM is needed to strengthen the scalability, sustainability and policy relevance of PA interventions in SSA.
