Health Ministry close to achieving ‘Million Mile’ target

Dec 23, 2008 News

….higher target set for 2009

The Ministry of Health has so far been able to accomplish approximately 800,000 miles towards achieving the ‘Million Mile Challenge’ that was embarked on by that ministry.
At his recent press conference, Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy expressed confidence that the million mile target would be achieved, since there is still the month of December to report on.
He explained that the Guyanese populace has responded favourably to the challenge, as there are more and more people that are becoming physically active, which he noted is an encouraging sign.
According to the Health Minister, during some of his trips around the country, he observed that more persons are walking and jogging in rural communities.
“People are now actually jogging across the Canje Bridge, and this is something I have never seen before; but, across the country, people are taking up this challenge and challenging themselves physically… but there are too many of us that don’t do that yet.”
Meanwhile, optimistic that the ministry will be able to achieve the target by the end of the year, Minister Ramsammy announced that, for the new year, a total of 1.5 million miles will be targeted, as the ministry will continue to receive the support of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. This new target will be called the ‘Million Mile Plus Challenge.’
In order to accomplish the new goal set out, the Health Minister revealed, each media house in Guyana will be asked to contribute a total of 10,000 miles. “I will be calling on the media houses every week… because when the media houses challenge us and say that you are not meeting your goals, we will say, ‘what about you?’ “
The Million Mile Challenge for Health is an initiative intended to get Guyanese to document one million miles through walking, running, jogging, swimming and cycling by the end of 2008.
The Health Ministry is encouraging Guyanese to “Move for Health” through a public walking (jogging, running, cycling and swimming) exercise.
Participants will document mileage walked, jogged, ran, cycled or swum.
This initiative supports the National Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. It aims at addressing the increased disease burden caused by poor lifestyle choices, such as unhealthy diets and lack of physical activity.
In particular, the initiative seeks to change the fact that more than 60% of Guyanese live inactive lifestyles.
The campaign focuses on promoting physical activity every day and everywhere for its numerous direct health effects, which are prevention of disease and promotion of physical, mental and social health.

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Health Ministry close to achieving ‘Million Mile’ target

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