Health, Education min., Cairo gov. witness ‘Healthy Cities’ celebration
Minister of Health
Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Education Dr. Reda Hegazi, Cairo Governor
Khaled Abdel Aal, and WHO representative in Egypt Dr. Naeema Said witnessed
Monday the celebration marking the launching the first phase of the WHO
initiative “Partnership for Healthy Cities” held at Omar ibn El-Khattab School
in cooperation with Bloomberg Foundation, Ministries of Health and Education, and
Cairo governorate.
During the
celebration, Cairo Governor Khaled Abdel Aal said Cairo has witnessed numerous
achievements over the past 10 years since President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi took
office, which aims to improve citizens’ living standards and provide a decent
life through various initiatives that contribute to enhancing healthcare,
education, and living standards.
Abdel Aal added the
“Healthy Cities” Initiative aims to raise health awareness among children,
implant new ideas to improve the nutritional environment and children's health,
reduce chronic diseases in the long term, and train teachers to be able to
correct children's misconceptions and habits by applying health initiatives
such as participating in Healthy Cities Initiatives. He also added that
there is a collaboration with the food bank to supply schools with fresh fruits
and vegetables daily, provide educational materials, such as educational
posters, vegetable and fruit coloring stories, and games like Snakes and
Ladders, organize Healthy Food Day, and raise awareness among all students to
bring healthy food and avoid unhealthy foods.
Moreover, Abdel Aal
praised the World Health Organization in Egypt for supporting the initiative,
expressing hope for continued fruitful cooperation between WHO and Cairo
Governorate. He also thanked the Ministries of Health and Education for their
exceptional efforts to implement the initiative to improve the health of
elementary school students in Cairo.
The celebration was
attended by Deputy Cairo Governor Dr. Ibrahim Saber, CEO of the Egyptian Bank
Food Dr. Mohsen Sarhan, Director of Health Directorate Mohammad Shawky, Head of
the Primary Health Care, School Age, and Adolescent Health Sector, Ministry of
Health.
The initiative
consists of a global network supported by the Bloomberg Foundation and includes
70 cities, including Cairo. It aims to save lives by preventing
non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart diseases, and obesity
by addressing and combating the risk factors leading to them through selecting
and implementing a set of activities aimed at applying international nutrition
standards for the food provided and sold in public institutions, especially in
government primary schools, by offering healthy and delicious alternatives to
students in schools’ cafeterias at affordable prices while improving its
efficiency and providing the necessary tools to prepare those alternatives.
The initiative
targets 16 schools in Cairo by raising awareness of students on healthy
alternatives to harmful foods via several games and activities.
The program includes
improving the infrastructure of schools’ cafeterias to serve healthy meals and
displaying posters showing healthy foods and alternatives to harmful food to
students at all times.
Furthermore,
educating students about the benefits of healthy eating through a variety of
games and competitions to improve their dietary habits for the better.
Source: Media
Department, Cairo Governorate