Campaign teaches schoolchildren to say no to junk food

When 21-year-old Emirati and Zayed University student Aisha Almaliki took up the challenge of encouraging schoolchildren to eat healthy, the last thing she expected was for students to respond positively.

Aisha Almaliki with students of Jumeirah English Speaking School, Arabian Ranches. — Supplied photo

“You know how most children are when they are 8-9 years-old. They will pick a junk food joint any day over a healthy, home cooked meal,” she said.

Almaliki and a team of students from Zayed University took part in the Creative Healthy Initiatives Project (Chip) campaign launched by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and Zayed University in collaboration with Julphar (Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries). Almaliki said they were pleasantly surprised to learn that a lot of young students already had a basic know-how of healthy eating habits.

The project saw the participation of eight teams of students from Zayed University in raising awareness among children at schools in Dubai about food and lifestyle-related issues.

“The problem ... was in implementation. Schools are telling students about healthy eating, but children are not being told on how ... (they) can eat right,” said Alimiki.

The Chip campaign ended recently with Almaliki’s team’s project ‘To Make My Diet Healthy and Right’ announced as the winning one. The first phase of the campaign began early this year with submissions of projects concepts from the Zayed University students, and was followed by students’ visits to schools in Dubai to undertake the practical side of their health awareness projects.

Almaliki, along with Amna Al Kaabi (21), Alia Al Ali (21), Amal Ibrahim (21), and Hessa Moosa (21), interacted with Grade 3 students of Jumeirah English Speaking School, Arabian Ranches as part of the project.

The students made posters, created mascots, brochures, jingles, cartoons and a short video for the students.

“Because we are talking to a very young ... group of students, we realised that we needed to use interactive and fun tools for them to understand the concept,” said Almaliki. “I think the students really enjoyed it. They loved the interactive nature of the sessions we’d lined up for them.”

Dr Chris Southgate, dean of College of Sustainability Sciences and Humanities, said: “The Chip campaign is one small example of how different organisations can join forces to address issues in the community and contribute to its well-being.”

Dr Usama Al Alami, associate professor at Zayed University and CHIP project leader, said: “It was a pleasure to celebrate the hard work of our students taking part in this project. We now hope to build on the success of the project and take it to its next level.”

Dr Ramadan Ibrahim, Director, Health Regulation Department, DHA, said: “DHA seeks to spread health knowledge and awareness necessary for a healthy community. As lifestyle diseases are on the rise, community outreach campaigns such as the Chip will be crucial to curb the prevalence of these diseases especially when targeting members of the community at an early age.”

Dr Aly Mousa, vice-president of sales and marketing, Julphar, said: “As a healthcare company that is committed to the well-being of the community, Julphar is happy to have been part of this leading awareness campaign. The well-being of the community is a common objective that all the components of society should be mobilised to achieve ... The Chip project is a case in point of how we can achieve a lot together.”

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com