Influential figures within the world of sport are gathering here in Baku in Azerbaijan this week for the seventh edition of the International Conference of Ministers and Senior Officials Responsible for Physical Education and Sport (MINEPS VII).

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is holding the conference for the first time since the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a public health emergency in January 2020, which forced countries to lock down for many months to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Gabriela Ramos, assistant director general for the social and human sciences at UNESCO, said the event, which was last held in 2017, was "long overdue" as they now assess the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Sport suffered during the pandemic," said Ramos.

"The current situation is not getting better with the major challenges that we are facing with mental wellbeing, the planet emergency and the war in Europe and other conflicts.

"There is a strong belief that many of these challenges that we are confronting, sport can have an answer to.

"By the end of this, I believe we can bring very strong messages to the table of Ministers.

"I want them to get a lot of the wisdom and a lot of message that the sports people and sports ecosystem want to deliver to get very good outcomes.

"We know that young people really have had a very hard time during COVID and now we are facing the mental health crisis, but we believe that sports can be the answer."

"Youth Power" was among the topics discussed by panellists during the Multistakeholder Forum which is being staged in Baku before the official start of MINEPS VII.

Isaac Piña, director general of the Municipal Commission for Physical Culture and Sport of León in Mexico, expressed his worries over the drop in the amount of people playing sport and focusing their attention on social media instead.

"In the cities, particularly young people are far too sedentary and literally dying of inactivity," said Piña.

"Nowadays children are faced with so many distractions including the hours spent on social media, sometimes it is six to seven hours a day in my country."

Piña said research had also found that people had their first alcoholic drink from as young as 11 years old while seven out of 10 Mexicans suffer with a degree of obesity or are overweight.

"Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a very difficult time so we need to support youth to create better citizens and bring out the best in everybody," said Piña.

"There are studies in our country which show that 40 per cent that used to do sport dropped it after the pandemic.

"The average age in León is 29.

"We are very young population and means that we have a challenge ahead of us and we are taking it seriously.

"Life is not a video game and you cannot binge watch on Netflix and consider yourself a success in life.

"It’s time for this to change.

"We need to have a beautiful alternative for our youth."

León, which is the third largest city in Mexico, is set to stage the 2024 International Children’s Games.

While many sports were severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, video gaming companies enjoyed huge growth as the interest in esports increased.

The first-ever Olympic Esports Week came to a close yesterday after being staged in Singapore for four days featuring several sports.

Singapore’s Ming Wei Ng, who used to compete in taekwondo before becoming a TikTok sensation, claims esports can inspire people to do more physical activities.

"Esports is a good way for people to try new sports in a very safe environment," said Ming.

"When I was younger, I wanted to do different sports but my parents said that is not good for you.

"I think virtual sport is a way of getting people started.

"Once they discover it, they will try it in a real situation that will boost participation.

"Esports has no language barrier, so it is easy to get people involved.

"All you need is a mobile to play."