Cape Town – Keep moving, eat healthily, and have no boundaries to fitness – that’s the message from Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo.
Mbombo has started a wellness programme that aims to prevent lifestyle diseases in the Western Cape.
“We want to see people getting active… whether it’s at a school, church or in community meetings. There shouldn’t be limits on getting people moving. People can exercise even in churches… before getting on with their church programme, what stops them from exercising first? Keeping active and watching what we eat is the only way that will make a difference in the burgeoning lifestyle diseases. We cannot simply keep mopping the floor… we need to close the tap,” she said.
The Wow! (Western Cape for Wellness) pilot programme, which was launched at Gardens Commercial High School on Tuesday, will see hundreds of schoolchildren, government employees and community members taking part in a range of health-related physical activities and healthy eating.
The project, which is being piloted over a six-month period in 10 schools that had no physical education, would also include 13 provincial government departments and 10 communities. It has been built on the Walk4Health programme – the wellness pilot which was launched by Premier Helen Zille two years ago – to promote a culture of wellness through encouraging the adoption of healthy lifestyles.
Facilitated through a transversal working group, which includes the province’s three universities (UCT, UWC and Stellenbosch University) and corporates such as Discovery Vitality, Eskom and the Heart and Stroke Foundation, among others, the Wow! programme will have participants screened for health risks including body mass index, blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and weight. The respective Wow! leaders, which will be monitoring the participants closely, will activate a range of health-related physical activities, and promote several actions for incremental healthy eating.
Team achievements, including their level of exercise intensity, and frequency of healthy eating are to be scored and rated according to an achievement pyramid, which includes bronze, silver and gold. A progress report will then be collated after three months before an award ceremony to reward participants is held by the end of the year.
Dr Beth Engelbrecht said the project would get doctors to do what they were trained for, and treat unavoidable diseases “instead of mopping the floor”.
Dr Michael Mol from Hello Doctor said while smoking was a major health hazard, a sedentary lifestyle was proven to be worse.
“Every hour that you spend sitting you lose 22 minutes from your lifespan. Exercise not only makes one feel good, but it reduces the risk of diabetes by 60 percent. It’s an effective medicine.”
Cape Argus