The Ministry of Health (MOH), through its pavilion at Janadriyah, continues to provide visitors of the National Festival for Heritage and Culture (Janadriyah 28) with miscellaneous health-awareness lectures, by means of which the Ministry seeks to raise people's health awareness, through a constellation of specialists in the medical field.
The festival guests will be able to visit the MOH Pavilion every day, from 6 to 8 pm, where they can enjoy the events and activities organized daily involving health lectures and workshops, to be organized on the course of the festival events.
Lectures delivered at the pavilion shed light on a set of necessary topics revolving around diseases and how to avoid them; such as hypertension, domestic infectious diseases, dangers of smoking, obesity surgeries, occupational health, and home food safety, in addition to dental issues, such as combating tooth decay.
Visitors of the MOH Pavilion will also be introduced with the Saudi Dietary Guidelines and balanced food, through a lectured to be given by Dr. Sayed Mustafa and Ms. Haifaa al-Bakr on April 15th. It is intended to draw citizens' attention to what to eat, in terms of both the type and quantity of food, and familiarize them with the daily required intake of nutrients, meanwhile placing particular emphasis on the necessity of daily exercise for all age groups. In doing so, they will be helping reduce the incidence of nutrition-associated diseases and complications amidst the community members. Such diseases include: obesity and overweight, diabetes, hypertension, anemia, vitamin deficiency, and so forth. Among the targets set for the dietary guidelines, also, is to make the most of the basic foods rich in useful nutrients, encompassing: proteins, vitamins, minerals and fiber; alongside discouraging people from having fast food, soft drinks, as well as salty, sugary and fatty foods, let alone the crucial importance of amending the diet.
A set of lectures to be delivered at the pavilion will touch upon such pivotal topics as mother and child care. Under this topic, several points are to be highlighted, such as: the importance of breastfeeding for both the mother and child, the importance of child vaccinations, their names and timings, nutrition of pregnant and breast-feeding women, and children's complementary feeding. That's to be added to explaining some of the medical services provided by the Ministry, and introducing attendees with medical developments, and the paradigm shift undergone by the Kingdom in the domain of health services over the past years.
Furthermore, the MOH Pavilion will be elucidating the development of Saudi health services, and enumerating the projects currently underway, by means of models, photos and documentaries, in addition to organizing a health-awareness competition for visitors, and distributing awards on winners.
Within the same vein, the MOH Pavilion, through the obesity clinic annexed to it, has paid close attention to obese persons, by providing the basic information, and measuring height, weight, biomarkers and body mass index (BMI), in an effort to prescribe a free, healthy diet for each of them, in cooperation with one of the governmental hospitals. The clinic, in so doing, seeks to help them lose weight. All frequenters receive proper care, especially those of them who are obese (about 30% of all frequenters). On entering the clinic, the visitor or frequenter is examined, and get his weight measured, depending on which an integrated report on his case is prepared. He is then given a note referring him to Imam Abdulrahman al-Faisal Hospital, to pay a visit within a week, where he gets a healthy six-month diet, and frequent to the hospital monthly for follow-up.
Over the past days, the clinic was visited by some 1500 frequenters, out of whom 30 per cent were suffering from obesity, whereas 35 per cent of frequenters had overweight, and 25 per cent were slightly overweighed, and 30 per cent have moderate weight. The clinic cares for those with thinness as well.
It is worth mentioning the nutrition section has witnessed significant turn-out. The number of yesterday's visitors mounted to over 300, who received health-awareness services by the section's specialists. They were also introduced with the nature of obesity, its causes, complications, risks, and how to avoid it. That's to be added to general dietary tips on how to have health food on the course of the day, from breakfast to supper. Moreover, specialists of the section measure visitors' height and weight, and provide them with the basic information commensurate with the result of the primordial examination, as well as directing them towards the right dietary approach to adopt, and familiarizing them with the complications that might occur in case of negligence of the healthy diet that would help them lose weight.