As part of the ‘Healthy Children 2021’ campaign, the National Campaign Task Force will organize a variety of activities in Dubai Mall for three days starting from Thursday, April 16. These activities, focused on children’s health, are aimed at raising awareness about embracing healthy lifestyle, and encouraging children to take up physical activities.

An innovative stand will be set at Dubai Mall to host a variety of activities for children and their families as well as visitors. The national campaign aims to reduce obesity levels in children to 12 per cent by 2021.

The stand at Dubai Mall allows children and their families to take photos and publish them on their personal accounts on social media channels. In addition, sports trainers and dietician consultants will be at hand to provide children useful sports and health tips, and conduct free medical tests. The stand will provide visitors and their children pedometers to measure the number of steps they take in Dubai Mall, and offer an opportunity to win prizes at ‘Twitter Exercise Bike’ contest with the results published on the contestants’ Twitter accounts.

During the second day, a walkathon will be organised in the presence of officials and their families, some social media influencers, schoolchildren as well as government and private sector employees. The  walkathon  participants will take 2021 steps in the mall as an expression of their support for the national campaign. The march will be promoted across all social media channels to encourage families and children to walk more, creating community engagement and spreading health tips through hashtag (#2021steps).

Dr. Hussein Al Rand, Chairperson of the ‘Healthy Children 2021’ Task Force, said the activities at Dubai Mall will mark the conclusion of the three-month phase of the national campaign, which included a communication campaign and educational events that witnessed huge participation from various government entities and the private sector. The campaign is expected to be re-launched after evaluating the results.  Dr. Al Rand urged members of the community to participate in the events, which will take place at the Dubai Mall to promote the health of children in the UAE.
Upcoming events of the national campaign are posted on social media platforms on Twitter, Instagram and Youtube: ‘npgc2021’ or websites: <http://www.healthychildren2021.ae>www.healthychildren2021.ae and <http://www.npgc2021.ae>www.npgc2021.ae

The national campaign ‘Healthy Children 2021’ is one of the main pillars of the National Programme for Government Communication (NPGC) that is guided by the National Agenda and UAE Vision 2021. It has a dedicated pillar to address obesity among children in the UAE and aims to foster efforts to promote healthy lifestyles in the UAE community.

A dedicated team from various federal and local authorities oversees the ‘Healthy Children 2021’ campaign in coordination with the private sector. The team is headed by the Ministry of Health and the membership of the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Social Affairs, General Authority for Youth and Sports, Dubai Health Authority, Health Authority – Abu Dhabi, in addition to membership of Government Communication Office of the cabinet.