Public Health Policy Professional Nwaliweaku Anidi Calls for Policy Action on Physical Inactivity

Ayodeji Ake

In a recent interview with Nwaliweaku Anidi, a public health policy professional working in implementation science, we discussed her career journey and why closing the gap between scientific knowledge and real-world impact has become the central focus of her work. She also outlined policy actions Nigeria can take to address its rising physical inactivity rates.

Originally trained as a physiotherapist, Anidi began her career in health promotion and disease prevention, working with patients in clinical settings and leading community health education initiatives. Reflecting on that phase of her career, she noted that individual-level interventions often struggled in environments that were not designed to support healthy choices. “I could educate people about physical activity,” she explained, “but without supportive environments, such as streets without sidewalks, sustained change was difficult.”

This realization prompted her transition into public health policy work at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), where she supported national policy development and implementation during Nigeria’s COVID-19 pandemic response. In her role, she coordinated national COVID-19 Emergency Operations Center activities and contributed to key policy documents, including the National COVID-19 Testing Strategy, which supported the scale-up of molecular testing laboratories from four to over 100 facilities within one year. “That experience made it clear to me how powerful policies can be when they are grounded in evidence and designed for implementation,” she said.

In a policy brief titled “Promoting Physical Activity in Communities in Nigeria Towards Addressing the High-Burden of Non-Communicable Diseases: Built Environment Policy Approaches,” which she developed during her research work at Washington University in St. Louis, Anidi highlights data showing a 240% increase in physical inactivity among Nigerian adults over the past two decades. The increase, she notes, is driven by factors such as rapid urbanization, unsafe road infrastructure, and limited access to recreational spaces. Rather than framing inactivity as an individual shortcoming, the brief emphasizes the role of policy and environmental design in shaping behavior. Drawing on global evidence, Anidi identifies policy approaches such as mixed land-use development, improved street connectivity, and increased investment in pedestrian and cycling infrastructure as cost-effective strategies for increasing physical activity at scale. These approaches, she explains, enable health outcomes to be co-produced by sectors beyond health, including transportation, urban planning, housing, and education.

Currently based in the United States, Anidi continues this implementation-focused work as a project coordinator on a National Science Foundation–funded initiative addressing gaps in water quality monitoring.

Through her work, Anidi highlights the urgent need to move beyond evidence generation toward policies and systems that ensure effective implementation. She calls on Nigerian legislators to prioritize built environment and active transportation policies as part of a comprehensive response to physical inactivity and noncommunicable diseases.