Health ministry makes an all out effort to get women in the UAE to stay fit

Dubai: The Ministry of Health and Prevention, MoHAP, has launched its public outreach campaign titled ‘Together we Move” to promote physical activity among women from all ages, by equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge and helping them adopt healthy lifestyles to be protected from different diseases and to enhance their mental well-being and positive energy.

The two-month campaign is in line with the UAE Government’s Community Design Initiative for the Quality of Life and MoHAP’s Strategic Framework for Happiness and Wellbeing initiative, which was launched during the Innovation month in 2019.

The campaign includes direct interviews with social media influencers, awareness-raising videos and posters, outdoor ads in Sharjah, Global Village and City Walk in Dubai, indoor mall ads (Dubai Mall, Mirdif City Centre, the Arabian Centre, Ajman City Centre, Fujairah City Centre, and Bawabat al Sharq Mall in Abu Dhabi, in addition to two-week mobile vehicle ads in Ajman, Ras Al-Khaimah, Umm Al-Quwain, and Fujairah.

The health ministry has also expanded the scope of the campaign by coordinating with the most popular radio and TV shows to cover the event for a month through interviews, commercial breaks, and promoting the campaign objectives. This is in addition to preparing special communication messages and appropriate media content for the various segments of the customers of the ministry’s partners, each according to their interests, besides the collaboration with global brands, women’s clubs, beauty centres, food outlets, and others.

Dr Hussein Abdel Rahman Al Rand, Undersecretary of the health ministry’s health assistant sector, health centres and clinics, said, “The campaign aims to encourage women in general and Emirati women, in particular, to engage in physical activity on a daily basis.”

Dr Al Rand added: “This comes as part of health ministry’s ongoing awareness-raising campaigns and initiatives to highlight the importance of regular exercise and healthy lifestyles. It also falls within the ‘Initiative to Raise Awareness About Healthy Lifestyle’ and the National Agenda 2021 to prevent chronic diseases such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes and blood pressure and to improve the outcomes of the national health indicators.”

AlRand pointed to the national initiative to promote awareness of healthy lifestyles, which involves the participation of communities and civil society institutions in health promotion programs in cooperation with government and private sector partners, stating that the initiative aims to raise awareness of healthy lifestyles that help build community capabilities, create a supportive environment for health, and prevent the prevalence of non-communicable diseases through physical activity and healthy food.

“The campaign messages were designed based on the findings of the community design study and the use of specific media strategies to help reach out to target groups,” he concluded.

Dr Fadila Mohamed Sherif, director of health ministry’s Health Education and Promotion Department, said, “When engaging in regular physical exercise, women’s energy will be boosted, the risk of heart attacks will be reduced, and their productive capacity will be improved. Besides, the campaign aims to promote mental health, reducing absenteeism from the workplace or the school, and reduce health care expenditures.”

She noted that the campaign objectives were built on the outcomes of panel discussions with women of various society segments, explaining that the campaign will educate women on how to do at least 150 minutes of physical activity throughout the week in a simple and practical way, according to the World Health Organisation’s recommendations.