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Minister leads Healthy Lifestyle campaign
Gabi Khumalo, BuaNews
2008-02-21

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang will on Friday kick off the 2008 Healthy Lifestyle Campaign, focusing on addressing the prevalence of Non-Communicable Diseases. The campaign was introduced in 2004.

This year's opening event will take place at eSayidi Further Education and Training College in Gamalakhe, Port Shepstone, with other events taking place in all nine provinces on the same day. The department has declared 22 February National Healthy Lifestyles Day, as part of efforts to instill healthy lifestyle choices in South Africans.

Briefing the media on the Social cluster's programme of action for the year, last week the minister said the day would be used to galvanise all South Africans to participate in all the five elements of the healthy lifestyle campaign. These include the promotion of good nutrition, regular exercise, not smoking and abusing alcohol and drugs and promoting safe sex. The promotion of healthy lifestyles continues to be a critical intervention in addressing the major causes of death in our country, which are communicable and non-communicable diseases as well injuries and trauma, the minister said last week. 

The Health Lifestyles Day will tackle the dangers of obesity, an unhealthy diet and physical inactivity as risk factors, by promoting health and well being among individuals, communities and populations. Since 2004, the minister has put the promotion of healthy lifestyles as a top priority. This was seen as a critical programme which needed to be advocated in communities, the private sector, other government departments and tertiary institutions. According to the department, the efforts and commitments made by the minister in raising awareness about living a healthy lifestyle was encouraged among other government departments to implement the programme, which is guided and mentored by the department. The Healthy Lifestyles Programme was successfully integrated in almost all the department's monthly health awareness days, attaining thousands community members.

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