Coinciding with the National Sport Day on Tuesday, the Ministry of Public Health has launched its “Start Now” campaign to raise public awareness of the importance of regular physical activity and exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle.
The first phase of the “Start Now” campaign focuses on simple, everyday changes one can make to start living a healthier lifestyle, highlighting that it’s easy to include at least 30 minutes of exercise per day.
The campaign in collaboration with Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC), focuses to improve the health and wellbeing of the people of Qatar.
The campaign’s first phase "Start Now…Be Active", calls for a positive change in the daily lives of community members.
The campaign, aims to engage young people, inspiring them to choose physical activity and healthy lifestyle habits which will help build strong and healthy future generations. By adopting a healthier lifestyle, including regular exercise, the impact of chronic and lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity can be reduced. These small changes include parking cars further away from the destinations and using the stairs instead of the elevator.
The campaign reminds people healthy activities can be incorporated while spending time with family and friends. It encourages people to play with their children, choosing dynamic family activities and encouraging walking, playing sport or going to the gym with friends.
“In line with the health sector’s responsibilities, we are always keen to encourage the wellbeing of individuals and maintain a healthy and productive society,” said Ali Abdallah Al Khater, Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Healthcare, MoPH. “Our new awareness campaign seeks to engage the community about the benefits of physical activity, starting with reducing the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure, going through weight maintenance, all the way to making sport an integral part of the daily life of the individual,” he said.
The “Start Now” campaign is aimed at building a healthy future for the population of Qatar, in line with the National Health Strategy and towards the realisation of the human development pillar of the Qatar National Vision 2030.
