International House Dubai is getting together with Unicef to raise funds and awareness to go towards to their Fight Against Child Obesity in the UAE Campaign.
Obesity is dramatically on the rise in middle and high income countries. According to the Central Statistics Department of the Ministry of Health, over 30% of children suffer from overweight and obesity, which lead to several complications such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases that constitute the leading cause of death in the United Arab Emirates. The UAE has the second highest prevalence of diabetes in the world, as almost a quarter of the population has diabetes of one form or another.
The Coordinated School health Program works toward long-term results and is designed to promote students success by helping students establish and maintain healthy personal and social behaviours, that will aid in decision making at school and later in life. This program helps schools to reinforce their capacities to promote health enhancing behaviours by adopting nutrition and physical activity policies to prevent child obesity and provide everyday practice of good health habits.
CSHP focuses attention on the priority areas for the most effective and efficient way to meet the health needs of young people and consists of eight components:
Health education
Physical education
Nutrition services
Consulting, psychological, social services
Health services
Parent and community involvement
Health promotion for staff
Parent and community involvement
Funds received will go towards the first two components, which require the following:
Capacity building training for teachers
Review of curricula
Production of students’ friendly material based on school level
Development of presentation tools for health educators
Provision of sports equipment
Direct Project support
IH Dubai have 4 members of staff willing to complete 4 endurance events over the next 6 months to raise funds to donate to Unicef’s fight child obesity campaign. Watch out for updates on events!
Sarah Grant, Business Development Manager, said, “This is a cause I strongly believe in. It will be a tough challenge yet it will be so rewarding at the end of it. Children are our future so I’m willing to push myself to the limits in hopes of making a difference to the future of the UAE!â€
“We would strongly encourage anyone who is as passionate as us to participate or contact us to find out how to donate to this fantastic cause.â€
For further information about IH Dubai’s Charity campaign soon to begin at International House Dubai please visit www.ihdubai.com or call +971 4 321 3121.
