Sharjah The emirate of Sharjah joined 1,000 cities across the globe yesterday to mark World Health Day by closing one of its main roads to traffic and opening it for a healthy activity.
The theme of this year's World Health Day was ‘Urbanisation and Health' and the criteria for joining in was to pledge to close a main arterial road, Dr Fadila Sharif, director of the health education department in Sharjah, told Gulf News.
The busy Shaikh Zayed Street was closed at around 5pm yesterday and Dr Hanif Hassan, Minister of Health, led a walkathon starting from the Sharjah TV Tower and ending at the Union Cooperative. He was accompanied by children, a police band and athletes dressed in blue. He later inaugurated a "health tent" set up at the co-op.
Dr Sharif said shoppers at the Co-op will be monitored and a dietician will check the bills at the check-out. "Those buying healthy foods will be given a gift voucher," she said. Shoppers and residents will also be provided free health checks for a week in the tent where stalls of various departments from the Sharjah Medical Zone have been set up.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement, on the occasion of the World Health Day, that the world population today has become highly urbanised, which poses a threat to public health because of poor living conditions and lack of access to services. "Improving urban health requires sound policies across all areas of government and awareness among all sectors of society," he said.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) organised a campaign called "1,000 cities, 1,000 lives", in which urban areas were cleaned up and roads blocked off to cars, as health champions who have made a significant impact in their cities will have a chance to tell their stories.
A large section of the UAE population is unhealthy despite spending millions in providing health care to residents. A large section of the population is obese with its many complications. About 20 per cent of the population is also diabetic putting a huge burden on the exchequer.
Dr Sharif said the Ministry is not asking people to give up the food they love, like hamburgers. "We are just asking that people eat smaller portions," she said. "If you do not have the time to exercise, take the steps instead of the elevator."
