For at least ten minutes on Friday, shopping came to a standstill at a section of The Dubai Mall as around 500 children walked past to deliver a resounding message — reduce child obesity to 12 per cent by 2021.

Approximately 500 schoolchildren participated in the symbolic 2021 steps walkathon on Friday as an expression of their support for the ‘2021 Healthy Children' national campaign. The participants took 2021 steps in the mall to show their support for the drive.

The campaign aims to reduce child obesity in the UAE to 12 per cent by the year 2021.

Currently, one child in three is overweight or obese.

The walkathon marked the conclusion of the three-month phase of the national campaign that started in January. The campaign is expected to be re-launched after evaluating the results.

Dr Hussain Al Rand, Assistant Undersecretary, Ministry of Health and the Chairperson of the ‘Healthy Children 2021' Task Force, said they staged the walkathon in a mall because of its strategic importance.

"The Dubai Mall attracts a lot of people from all the seven emirates especially on Fridays. This walkathon is to call the attention of families, especially parents, to engage their children in sports such as swimming, cycling, running and to make it part of their daily life,” Dr Al Rand told Gulf News.

"This way they will protect their children not only from cardiovascular diseases but from many diseases.”

Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Overweight children have higher chances of becoming obese adults, developing diabetes and cardiovascular diseases at an early age, which could lead to premature death and disability.

Syrian expatriate Ali encouraged his three children Zain, seven 7, Aya, five, and Anas, three and a half, to join the walk.

"This activity is very good. We always encourage our kids to be physically active especially during summer,” he told Gulf News, encouraging other parents to do the same with their children.

In 2013, 42 million preschool children were overweight globally, figures from WHO show. If nothing is done about the issue, the number of overweight or obese infants and young children globally will shoot up to 70 million in just 10 years.
Source: Gulf News