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Health Ministry Drive Bears Fruit

DUBAI - Leading by example, the Ministry of Health is encouraging its employees to eat two types of fruits a day at the workplace. The aim is to reduce the incidence of chronic diseases and increase productivity.

And the results are showing: eighty-three per cent of the staff have increased their daily fruit intake while 87 per cent have said they will continue the habit now that the campaign has ended, say health educators who initiated the programme.

The ministry has just concluded the Week of Fruits, in which all its employees in Dubai were served two types of fruits in the morning. “We want to set an example for people and encourage them to eat healthy,” health educator Nouf Khamis said.

“Two types of fruits that can be eaten easily at the table were served free of cost to all employees at 10am,” said Nouf. “We also sent out emails detailing the benefits of eating healthy, the nutritional content of the fruits as well some healthy recipes.”

Ministry employees were asked to complete a questionnaire detailing their experience. “Majority of the people said the programme had affected their daily diet positively,” said Nouf.

Requests for similar programmes were coming in from the ministry’s offices in other emirates, Nouf said. The activity will be adopted by other government institutions too, she added.

Three other programmes to manage weight, stress and smoking will also be rolled out in the future. Earlier, the ministry had conducted a similar programme and offered monetary compensation to employees who shed kilos.

The UAE has already drafted nutritional guidelines to improve the general well-being of residents and address the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases including obesity and diabetes.

The strategy will outline national policies on nutrition (malnutrition, under nutrition, overweight, obesity) and food production (safety, security and consumption), and will be enforced through individuals, groups, organisations and related government bodies starting this year.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com