The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has called on governments to increase investment in physical education and school sport in order to make children more physically active.

The recommendations are made in a new publication, which offers new guidelines on physical education for governments and policy makers.

In the new document, entitled Quality Physical Education, Guidelines for Policy Makers, UNESCO addresses seven areas of “particular concern” identified last year in UNESCO’s global review of the state of physical education.

The seven areas include persistent gaps between PE policy and implementation; continuing deficiencies in curriculum time allocation; relevance and quality of PE curriculums; and the quality of initial teacher training programmes.

It also highlights inadequacies in the quality and maintenance of facilities and the continued barriers to equal provision and access for all – as well as inadequate school-community coordination.

The guidelines were released during a meeting of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Education and Sport (CIGEPS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 30 January 2015.

Announcing the new guidelines, UNESCO director-general Irina Bokova said: "The stakes are high. Public investment in physical education is far outweighed by high dividends in health savings and educational objectives.

"Participation in quality physical education has been shown to instil a positive attitude towards physical activity, to decrease the chances of young people engaging in risky behaviour and to impact positively on academic performance, while providing a platform for wider social inclusion."

• Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) described obesity as a pandemic that contributes to the death of 3.2 million people every year, more than twice as many as die of AIDS.

• To download and read the Quality Physical Education, Guidelines for Policy Makers document in full, click here.