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In line with its commitment to encourage healthy lifestyle adoption across the UAE, du organized a roadshow to visit several government schools across the UAE as part of its wellbeing campaign “Every Step Counts” that was launched in July 2013. The school activities are organized in collaboration with UNICEF’s School Health Education project. du hosts engaging, interactive activities for students during the roadshow, to teach them about the importance of living a healthy lifestyle, and how they can achieve it. UNICEF’s School Health Education project is in partnership with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, and SEHA ambulatory health services and du.
The roadshow will visit three boys’ schools, and two girls’ schools across the emirates from 20-24 April 2014, with the aim of delivering health education in a more engaging manner that promotes long-term knowledge retention and behavioural change. Schools involved in the roadshow are Mohammad bin Rashed School in Dubai; Ali bin Abi Taleb School in Sharjah; Aisha bint Abdulla School in Ajman; Al Fujairah School in Fujairah, and Ghalilah School in Ras Al Khaimah.
There will be three activities conducted per school, with groups of 30 students attending each session, with the help of a group of volunteers from du.
Activities include a boot camp exercise that raises awareness of the importance of movement through entertainment and playing creatively outdoors, thereby creating a healthy balance between sedentary technology-related activities and energetic activities. The activities also include basic cooking classes to determine the level of children’s nutritional knowledge and their ability to choose healthy foods, while educating them about nutritional values, facts and tips through entertaining lessons, empowering them with the ability to make healthier choices in the future. Other activities are general discussions and presentations, which aim to assess children’s knowledge and understanding of health and to educate them on general health tips and facts through fun entertainment.
Hala Badri, Executive Vice President, Brand and Communications, du, said: “There is nothing more important than educating our children on the importance of health, and the factors that contribute to them living a healthier lifestyle. Through our association with the UNICEF School Health Education project, and through our own Every Step Counts national wellbeing campaign, we aim to encourage more people across the UAE to adopt a healthier way of living. Children’s education is a vital part of this, as they can easily absorb and adopt healthy habits that they will carry forward with them, to pass on to their families and the UAE’s future generations.”
The objective of the School Health Education initiative is to increase the awareness of UAE school students of how to lead a healthy lifestyle. The initiative was launched in December 2013 and will run for one year across 18 government schools across the nation, with two in each of the emirates, Al Ain and the Western Province.
So far, Focus Group Discussions with a number of students and school nurses from secondary government schools across the UAE have been completed to assess the current practices and approach. In addition, a training workshop for school nurses was conducted to build their capacities on how to deliver health education in a more interactive approach. Currently the delivery of health education using this approach is being piloted in 18 government schools. Collectively, these activities will form the basis on which a health education manual will be developed to teach students schools about health in more engaging and interactive ways.
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