‘2021 Healthy Children’ drive launched to improve healthy lifestyle

Dubai: The “2021 Healthy Children” campaign under the umbrella of the National Programme for Government Communication (NPGC) has been launched to raise awareness about healthy lifestyles among Emirati children and ensure a better and healthy life for generations to come.

“2021 Healthy Children” is one of the seven pillars of the NPGC announced by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, during a Cabinet meeting held on Sunday.

The campaign includes a dedicated team comprising federal and local government entities chaired by the Ministry of Health. It also includes members representing the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Social Affairs, the General Authority for Youth and Sports Welfare, Dubai Health Authority, Health Authority - Abu Dhabi as well as the overall supervision and coordination of the Government Communication Office of the General Secretariat of the Cabinet.

Launching the campaign, Abdulrahman Al Owais, Minister of Health, said the ministry has been developing a number of plans and programmes within the framework of the NPGC, including adopting policies to provide healthcare for children in the UAE and launch awareness campaigns to educate the community about healthy lifestyles. These will continue until March.

The minister said the “2021 Healthy Children” campaign is in line with national efforts to implement the National Agenda, particularly in relation to the efforts to reduce obesity levels in children by 17 per cent to 12 per cent as guided by the agenda.

Al Owais said the campaign would be driven by a specialised team that includes a number of federal and local government entities and the private sector, which will function in coordination with the General Secretariat of the Cabinet to achieve the National Agenda indicators on health.

The NPGC includes seven pillars: Healthy Children, Cohesive Family, Quality Education, Green Ideas, Sustainable Food, Prosperous Future, and Diabetes-free UAE. The teams under the programme will develop a nation-wide communication plan for each pillar to utilise all possible channels of innovative and effective communication. - asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com