GDoH hosts "Move for Health" campaign to promote healthy lifestyles  

27 January 2008

The Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) will host the "Move for Health" campaign aimed to highlight the significance of partaking on physical activities. The event will be held on 22 February 2008 at the Elka Cricket Stadium in Rockville, Soweto.

Move for health drive sought to raise awareness about the significance of taking part on physical exercise. This is part of the national "Vuka South Africa-Move for health" campaign with a theme to encourage people to participate "at least 30 minutes in physical activity at least five days in a week". It is aimed to be a slogan for every household in the province.

The GDoH move for health event will bring together a group of up to 4000 people of different age groups from across the province. The day will be marked by various activities from which each person just select one or more activities and participate.  

Regular physical activity is vital in reducing the incidence of prevalent non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, which are destructive to the health of our communities and a burden on the health services.

The real and immediate threats to the health of the community are the growing rate of obesity and widespread inactivity due to the lack of physical activities. If a person exercise regularly, follow a balanced diet and don't smoke chances of remaining healthy and living longer increases. More importantly prevention is the answer to turning around the province's health challenges