Thursday 02 / May / 2024
Muscat:
Following the theme “Join us today, make it a habit every day” the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ministry of Culture, Sports & Youth (MOCSY) celebrated virtually the Oman Physical Activity Day, which falls on 2nd October.
A number of senior officials from MOH, MOCSY and World Health Organization (WHO) along with athletes, citizens and residents have participated in the event.
Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the event included several awareness activities and programs that have been organized and broadcasted them via various social media channels.
The celebration began with a speech delivered by Dr Lamia Mahmoud, Public Health Specialist at the WHO Office in the Sultanate. It also included a recorded address of the Director-General of Sports Affairs at MOCSY, Khalifa Al-Issai, where touched upon the importance of physical activity.
Moreover, the celebration highlighted several related issues such as mountain hiking, cycling, karate, people with special needs and physical activity, supportive environment for physical activity and others.
On this occasion, Dr Huda bint Khalfan Al-Siabi, Director of Community Health Initiatives stressed that physical inactivity is the fourth main risk of early death worldwide. It also one of the forth main risk factors responsible for the alarming increase of non-communicable diseases. These four factors (tobacco, physical inactivity, unhealthy food habits and alcohol abuse) are responsible for 60% of deaths in the world.
Al-Siabi pointed out that about 31% of populations do not exercise sufficient physical activity to avoid them from these serious health problems.
Following the instructions of the Supreme Committee on COVID-19, a hashtag (Oman Physical Activity Day) has been activated calling everyone to participate and send their own videos, furthermore, a sporting event will be broadcasted on Sunday via the social media channels including participation from various governorates across the Sultanate. In addition, a virtual forum on physical activity and COVID-19 will be held next Tuesday at 10:00 am. The forum will be available for the public and discuss several issues like physical activity is a valuable tool to control the infection and maintain the public health, as well as enhancing mental health during practising physical activity amid COVID-19.
