Date: 25/04/2005
Source: Department of Health
Title: Tshabalala-Msimang: Healthy Lifestyles Awareness Day
Speech by the Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, at an event to celebrate Healthy Lifestyle Awareness day Sakhile Stadium, Standerton
Programme Director
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentleman
I am honoured to be here today on this occasion to celebrate Healthy Lifestyles Awareness Day with the people of Sakhile. Similarly you should also be honoured to learn that your province is the seventh to be hosting this programme to encourage all our people to adopt measures that will enhance their health.
We are committed to improving the health of the nation but we can only win the battle if you, our people, also commit to moving away from health damaging to health enhancing behaviours and begin to take charge of your own lives.
The key message I want to share with you today is that we all need to modify our behaviours in order to be healthy and to live long. Healthy living is about adopting right behavioural practices such as healthy eating, physical activity and practicing safe sex. We need to also stop smoking and alcohol abuse.
Programme Director I must hasten to emphasise that leading a healthy lifestyle is not just a social status reserved only for people who are well off. After all chronic diseases caused by our lifestyle such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and many others do not discriminate between rich or poor, young or old.
I am mentioning all these issues because I am deeply concerned about the level of lifestyle diseases in our country. Research studies indicate that there is a marked increase in a number of people with hypertension and diabetes.
As an example a recent Youth Risk Behaviour Survey (YRBS) - which was conducted in 2002 in about 188 schools among grades 8 to 11 pupils indicates that 17,2% of our young people are overweight. Significantly more females (25%) than males (6,9%) are overweight. Furthermore, the national average of obesity was found to be 4%, also indicating a significant difference between female (5,3%) and male (2,2%).
This study further revealed that the South African adolescents are physically inactive. Of particular concern is that 25% of youth reported to be watching television for more than 3 hours per day. Girls were at greater risk of physical inactivity than their male counterparts. This is a serious cause for concern.
Whilst there are challenges to dealing with some of the reasons advanced by our young people for not engaging in physical activity, we all need to note that physical activity is something one can engage in, anytime and anywhere.
For an example, you can walk to school, walk to work, walk to the shop or church, go up the stairs in a mall or school instead of using a lift. And as a custodian of this campaign I always try to lead by example and I often encourage my colleagues and health practitioners to do likewise.
Hence this morning I started my day by joining the enthusiastic Sakhile community for a short healthy walk. This morning's exercise also serves to give effect to our call for people to support each other through working together as families and communities in order to build healthy communities and a better life for all.
I believe that exercising is one of the most easily adaptable and economical habits one can adopt. It is recommended that we exercise for at least 30 minutes - in most days of the week - preferably everyday. We can also start our community physical activity support groups. Remember that you do not need a registration at a formal gym and does not cost money to engage in this kind of activity.
To parents present here today I would like to urge you too to encourage your children to lead active lives by discouraging them from watching television for prolonged hours and encourage them to participate in sports and some of our indigenous games like ingqathu.
Contrary to popular belief, a healthy diet also need not put a burden on your already limited resources. There are many cost free ways to ensure that we keep a balanced diet such as the way we cook our food by using little oil, using less sugar, more wholegrain food and drinking lots of water among others. Our diet should also consist of a lot of vegetables and fruits.
The Department is also involved in an initiative to encourage our communities to engage in the development and maintenance of sustainable food gardening programmes to produce fresh vegetables for their consumption. I have been encouraged by the enthusiasm with which the people of Sakhile have embraced this initiative and I am confident that in my next visit I would be able to see more and more projects of this nature being initiated.
Programme Director as a Department we are also concerned about the level of alcohol abuse in our communities and the negative impact it has on our lives such as injuries and accidents.
The 1990 - 2003 Road Traffic and Fatal Crash Statistic Report indicates that the majority of people who die in road accidents including pedestrians, were found to have high levels of alcohol concentration in their blood. There is also a social dimension to this. Alcohol can lead to financial problems and domestic violence particularly violence against women and children.
Smoking is another risk factor for unnecessary diseases and deaths affecting our society today. It contributes significantly to causes of heart disease and strokes and some cancers. Globally, tobacco kills about 4,9 million people and this figure is predicted to rise to 10 million per year by 2030. In South Africa alone, about 25 000 people die from diseases related to smoking every year.
It is encouraging to note, however, that our policies are beginning to have an impact in reducing the levels of smoking in our country. Our research indicates that smoking prevalence amongst our adult population has decreased from 36% in 1996 to 22% in 2003. Amongst our youth, smoking has decreased from 23% in 1999 to 18,5% in 2002.
Let me congratulate those of you who have managed to stop smoking and encourage them to sustain this behaviour. We do acknowledge that the addiction makes it difficult to stop but with commitment, dedication and support from family, friends, colleagues and the community at large, it is possible to quit smoking.
Programme Director to further reinforce our commitment towards ensuring a smoke free society, my department is currently working on strengthening our tobacco legislation to close any possible loopholes. This would include among others increased fines for those failing to comply with the law.
Ladies and gentlemen I want to emphasise to you that chronic diseases caused by choices of our lifestyles can be prevented if people adopt health-enhancing behaviours. Of course some people inherit these diseases through genes or due to old age. However, I want to inform you that starting a healthy lifestyle is never too late. If you are suffering from any of these diseases, you can still live healthily and improve the quality of your life, thus minimise chances of your condition getting worse.
It is equally important that people visit heath facilities for regular medical check-ups and reporting of any ailments so that such diseases can be detected in time for effective management and treatment. We have also made screening services available here today to enable you to check whether you are not in danger of being affected by these chronic diseases.
I was delighted to hear that the screening programme, here in Sakhile has been going on since Monday last week. I want to thank all those health care providers and volunteers who participated in this process. Also a big thank you goes to everyone who took time out to make use of these facilities to check their sugar and blood pressure levels.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all the stakeholders that made this event a success. In particular the local leadership, our private sector partners from Lilly South Africa, Discovery Health, SPAR, Denmark Mine, NGOs, CBOs and everybody here today.
And to George Hofmeyer school choir thank you for serenading us with your wonderful melodies. And to everybody here today I want to say to you: do not allow yourself to engage in habits and lifestyles that could endanger your health and your precious life. Make it a habit that you exercise regularly, eat healthily, refrain from smoking and alcohol abuse and practice safe sex.
Phambili nempilo engcono phambili!
Issued by: Department of Health
25 April 2005
Source: Department of Health (http://www.doh.gov.za)
Source: Department of Health
Title: Tshabalala-Msimang: Healthy Lifestyles Awareness Day
Speech by the Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, at an event to celebrate Healthy Lifestyle Awareness day Sakhile Stadium, Standerton
Programme Director
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentleman
I am honoured to be here today on this occasion to celebrate Healthy Lifestyles Awareness Day with the people of Sakhile. Similarly you should also be honoured to learn that your province is the seventh to be hosting this programme to encourage all our people to adopt measures that will enhance their health.
We are committed to improving the health of the nation but we can only win the battle if you, our people, also commit to moving away from health damaging to health enhancing behaviours and begin to take charge of your own lives.
The key message I want to share with you today is that we all need to modify our behaviours in order to be healthy and to live long. Healthy living is about adopting right behavioural practices such as healthy eating, physical activity and practicing safe sex. We need to also stop smoking and alcohol abuse.
Programme Director I must hasten to emphasise that leading a healthy lifestyle is not just a social status reserved only for people who are well off. After all chronic diseases caused by our lifestyle such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and many others do not discriminate between rich or poor, young or old.
I am mentioning all these issues because I am deeply concerned about the level of lifestyle diseases in our country. Research studies indicate that there is a marked increase in a number of people with hypertension and diabetes.
As an example a recent Youth Risk Behaviour Survey (YRBS) - which was conducted in 2002 in about 188 schools among grades 8 to 11 pupils indicates that 17,2% of our young people are overweight. Significantly more females (25%) than males (6,9%) are overweight. Furthermore, the national average of obesity was found to be 4%, also indicating a significant difference between female (5,3%) and male (2,2%).
This study further revealed that the South African adolescents are physically inactive. Of particular concern is that 25% of youth reported to be watching television for more than 3 hours per day. Girls were at greater risk of physical inactivity than their male counterparts. This is a serious cause for concern.
Whilst there are challenges to dealing with some of the reasons advanced by our young people for not engaging in physical activity, we all need to note that physical activity is something one can engage in, anytime and anywhere.
For an example, you can walk to school, walk to work, walk to the shop or church, go up the stairs in a mall or school instead of using a lift. And as a custodian of this campaign I always try to lead by example and I often encourage my colleagues and health practitioners to do likewise.
Hence this morning I started my day by joining the enthusiastic Sakhile community for a short healthy walk. This morning's exercise also serves to give effect to our call for people to support each other through working together as families and communities in order to build healthy communities and a better life for all.
I believe that exercising is one of the most easily adaptable and economical habits one can adopt. It is recommended that we exercise for at least 30 minutes - in most days of the week - preferably everyday. We can also start our community physical activity support groups. Remember that you do not need a registration at a formal gym and does not cost money to engage in this kind of activity.
To parents present here today I would like to urge you too to encourage your children to lead active lives by discouraging them from watching television for prolonged hours and encourage them to participate in sports and some of our indigenous games like ingqathu.
Contrary to popular belief, a healthy diet also need not put a burden on your already limited resources. There are many cost free ways to ensure that we keep a balanced diet such as the way we cook our food by using little oil, using less sugar, more wholegrain food and drinking lots of water among others. Our diet should also consist of a lot of vegetables and fruits.
The Department is also involved in an initiative to encourage our communities to engage in the development and maintenance of sustainable food gardening programmes to produce fresh vegetables for their consumption. I have been encouraged by the enthusiasm with which the people of Sakhile have embraced this initiative and I am confident that in my next visit I would be able to see more and more projects of this nature being initiated.
Programme Director as a Department we are also concerned about the level of alcohol abuse in our communities and the negative impact it has on our lives such as injuries and accidents.
The 1990 - 2003 Road Traffic and Fatal Crash Statistic Report indicates that the majority of people who die in road accidents including pedestrians, were found to have high levels of alcohol concentration in their blood. There is also a social dimension to this. Alcohol can lead to financial problems and domestic violence particularly violence against women and children.
Smoking is another risk factor for unnecessary diseases and deaths affecting our society today. It contributes significantly to causes of heart disease and strokes and some cancers. Globally, tobacco kills about 4,9 million people and this figure is predicted to rise to 10 million per year by 2030. In South Africa alone, about 25 000 people die from diseases related to smoking every year.
It is encouraging to note, however, that our policies are beginning to have an impact in reducing the levels of smoking in our country. Our research indicates that smoking prevalence amongst our adult population has decreased from 36% in 1996 to 22% in 2003. Amongst our youth, smoking has decreased from 23% in 1999 to 18,5% in 2002.
Let me congratulate those of you who have managed to stop smoking and encourage them to sustain this behaviour. We do acknowledge that the addiction makes it difficult to stop but with commitment, dedication and support from family, friends, colleagues and the community at large, it is possible to quit smoking.
Programme Director to further reinforce our commitment towards ensuring a smoke free society, my department is currently working on strengthening our tobacco legislation to close any possible loopholes. This would include among others increased fines for those failing to comply with the law.
Ladies and gentlemen I want to emphasise to you that chronic diseases caused by choices of our lifestyles can be prevented if people adopt health-enhancing behaviours. Of course some people inherit these diseases through genes or due to old age. However, I want to inform you that starting a healthy lifestyle is never too late. If you are suffering from any of these diseases, you can still live healthily and improve the quality of your life, thus minimise chances of your condition getting worse.
It is equally important that people visit heath facilities for regular medical check-ups and reporting of any ailments so that such diseases can be detected in time for effective management and treatment. We have also made screening services available here today to enable you to check whether you are not in danger of being affected by these chronic diseases.
I was delighted to hear that the screening programme, here in Sakhile has been going on since Monday last week. I want to thank all those health care providers and volunteers who participated in this process. Also a big thank you goes to everyone who took time out to make use of these facilities to check their sugar and blood pressure levels.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all the stakeholders that made this event a success. In particular the local leadership, our private sector partners from Lilly South Africa, Discovery Health, SPAR, Denmark Mine, NGOs, CBOs and everybody here today.
And to George Hofmeyer school choir thank you for serenading us with your wonderful melodies. And to everybody here today I want to say to you: do not allow yourself to engage in habits and lifestyles that could endanger your health and your precious life. Make it a habit that you exercise regularly, eat healthily, refrain from smoking and alcohol abuse and practice safe sex.
Phambili nempilo engcono phambili!
Issued by: Department of Health
25 April 2005
Source: Department of Health (http://www.doh.gov.za)
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