KAMPALA – Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, the Minister for Health has Tuesday morning asked all Ugandans to endeavour to participate in the National Day of Physical Activity (NDPA) slated for Sunday, 14th July.
Dr. Aceng said that the day will be held every second Sunday of July as a way of strengthening the government’s efforts in the prevention and control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
Under the theme “My Health, My responsibility”, this year’s event will be celebrated at Kololo Independence Grounds.
“This will be to inform the population about the importance of physical activity, its relevance in prevention Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and premature mortality from lifestyle diseases,” said the minister.
She added that the prevalence of NCDs is anticipated to increase if individuals do NOT change to an active lifestyle, saying that “Despite global commitments by all World Health Organisation member states to reduce physical inactivity by 10% by 2025.
The minister revealed that Physical inactivity is reported as the 4th leading risk factor for death globally; causing 6% of deaths worldwide.
“It is estimated that 1 in every 4 adults globally is not physically active enough,” she said.
She revealed that the ministry is currently developing the National Physical Activity guidelines and supporting the promotion of physical education in schools as part of the efforts to increase physical activity among the population.
Just like at the launch, the 2nd NDPA day will be flagged off by President Museveni.
On July 8, 2018, the Ministry of Health in a bid to fight non-communicable diseases like hypertension, diabetes, among others launched the first-ever National Physical Activity Day that took place at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds.
“We want to remind Ugandans of the importance of exercises, most Ugandans live sedentary lifestyles. From home to work, in the comfort of a car, with no exercise at all, eating unhealthy food, etc and this is how many of them fall prey of these non-communicable diseases,” said Aceng.
According to Ministry of Health, 40% of deaths in Uganda are due to non-communicable diseases, 13% motor accidents, 9% cardiovascular diseases, 5% cancers and the remaining percentage is for other cases.
