BACKGROUND: The actions required to achieve higher-quality and harmonised global surveillance of child and adolescent movement behaviours (physical activity, sedentary behaviour including screen time, sleep) are unclear. OBJECTIVE: To identify how to improve surveillance of movement behaviours, from the perspective of experts. METHODS: This Delphi Study involved 62 experts from the SUNRISE International Study of Movement Behaviours in the Early Years and Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance (AHKGA). Two survey rounds were used, with items categorised under: (1) funding, (2) capacity building, (3) methods, and (4) other issues (e.g., policymaker awareness of relevant WHO Guidelines and Strategies). Expert participants ranked 40 items on a five-point Likert scale from 'extremely' to 'not at all' important. Consensus was defined as > 70% rating of 'extremely' or 'very' important. RESULTS: We received 62 responses to round 1 of the survey and 59 to round 2. There was consensus for most items. The two highest rated round 2 items in each category were the following; for funding (1) it was greater funding for surveillance and public funding of surveillance; for capacity building (2) it was increased human capacity for surveillance (e.g. knowledge, skills) and regional or global partnerships to support national surveillance; for methods (3) it was standard protocols for surveillance measures and improved measurement method for screen time; and for other issues (4) it was greater awareness of physical activity guidelines and strategies from WHO and greater awareness of the importance of surveillance for NCD prevention. We generally found no significant differences in priorities between low-middle-income (n = 29) and high-income countries (n = 30) or between SUNRISE (n = 20), AHKGA (n = 26) or both (n = 13) initiatives. There was a lack of agreement on using private funding for surveillance or surveillance research. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a prioritised and international consensus list of actions required to improve surveillance of movement behaviours in children and adolescents globally.

Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Ottawa Canada

American University of Beirut Beirut Lebanon

Biomedical Research Foundation Dhaka Bangladesh

Centre for Community Health Studies Faculty of Health Sciences University Kebangsaan Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Centre for Healthy Ageing and Wellness Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Bandar Baru Bangi Malaysia

Centre for Motivation and Health Behaviour Change Department for Health University of Bath Bath UK

Centre for Social Research University of Malawi Zomba Malawi

Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute Ottawa ON K1H 5B2 Canada

College of Medicine Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences Dubai Health Dubai United Arab Emirates

Department of Biosciences and Nutrition Karolinska Institutet Solna Sweden

Department of Human Nutrition Tokyo Kasei Gakuin University Tokyo Japan

Department of Kinesiology Recreation and Sport Studies University of Tennessee Knoxville USA

Department of Nursing Faculty of Health Science Ariel University Ariel Israel

Department of Occulational and Physical Therapy University of Namibia Windhoek Namibia

Department of Physical Activity and Healthy Lifestyles National Institute of Public Health Cuernavaca México

Department of Physical Education Sports and Recreation Universidad de La Frontera Temuco Chile

Department of Physical Education Sports Center Federal University of Santa Catarina Santa Catarina Brazil

Department of Psychological Sciences and Health University of Strathclyde Glasgow Scotland

Department of Sport and Health Science University of Exeter Devon UK

Department of Sport Physical Education and Health Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong China

Department of Sport Sciences and Clinical Biomechanics University of Southern Denmark Odense Denmark

Department of Sports and Computer Science Universidad Pablo de Olavide Seville Spain

Department of Sports Science College of Human Kinetics University of the Philippines Diliman Quezon Philippines

Discipline of Biokinetics Exercise and Leisure Sciences College of Health Sciences University of KwaZulu Natal Durban South Africa

Division of Medical Sciences University of Northern British Columbia Prince George Canada

Efsharibari National Program for Active and Healthy Living Ministry of Health Haifa Israel

Evelyn H Ribeiro Physical Activity Epidemiology Group at the University of Sao Paulo Sao Paulo Brazil

Faculty of Health Sciences SAMRC Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg South Africa

Faculty of Health Sciences University of Lethbridge Lethbridge Canada

Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences University of Zimbabwe Harare Zimbabwe

Faculty of Physical Culture Palacký University Olomouc Olomouc Czech Republic

Faculty of Physical Education and Sport University of Tuzla Tuzla Bosnia Herzegovina

Faculty of Public Health Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam

Faculty of Sport and Physical Education University of Novi Sad Novi Sad Serbia

Faculty of Sport Sciences University of Extremadura Badajoz Spain

Faculty of Sports Research Centre of Physical Activity Health and Leisure Porto Portugal

Health and Social Research Center Universidad de Castilla La Mancha Cuenca Spain

Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute Ottawa ON Canada

Human Kinetics and Health Education University of Lagos Lagos Nigeria

Human Potential Translational Research Programme Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine National University of Singapore Singapore Singapore

Independent University Dhaka Bangladesh

Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences Deakin University Burwood Australia

Institute for Population and Social Research Mahidol University Nakhon Pathom Thailand

Institute of Education University of Strathclyde Glasgow Scotland

Institute of Physical Activity and Nutrition Deakin University Burwood Australia

Institute of Sport Sciences and Physiotherapy Faculty of Medicine University of Tartu Tartu Estonia

Instituto Superior de Educación Física Universidad de La República Rivera Uruguay

Jozef Pilsudski University of Physical Education Warsaw Poland

Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health University of Porto Porto Portugal

Laboratory of the Metabolic Adaptations to Exercise under Physiological and Pathological Condition International Research Chair Health in Motion Clermont Auvergne University Clermont Ferrand France

National Centre for Energy Sciences and Nuclear Techniques Kenitra Morocco

One Health Research Group Universidad de Las Américas Quito Ecuador

PDU EFISAL Centro Universitario Regional Noreste Universidad de La República Montevideo Uruguay

Pennington Biomedical Research Center Louisiana State University Louisiana USA

Research Laboratory «Sport Performance Health and Society» Higher Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Ksar Saîd University of Manouba Tunis Tunisia

School of Education and Leadership Studies University of Ghana Legon Ghana

School of Education University of Wollongong Wollongong Australia

School of Health and Society University of Wollongong Wollongong Australia

School of Kinesiology and Health Studies Queen's University Kingston Canada

School of Nursing The University of Auckland Auckland New Zealand

School of Physical Education Shanghai University of Sport Shanghai China

School of Public Health University of Haifa Haifa Israel

School of Sport and Physical Activity Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield UK

The Lown Scholar Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health Harvard University Cambridge USA

Vadu Rural Health Program KEM Hospital Research Centre Pune India

Erratum v

Sports Med. 2025 Apr;55(4):1057-1060. doi: 10.1007/s40279-025-02185-7. PubMed

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