Within the framework of the health awareness campaigns launched by the Ministry of Health (MOH) throughout the year, and as a part of the health awareness activities and events, the Ministry resumes this year its awareness campaign launched during the past year through the cartoon character (Seoff). In this cartoon series, health awareness messages are broadcasted, coinciding with the summer vacations and travel season.
The MOH spokesman, Dr. Khalid bin Muhammad Margalani, has pointed out that the campaign aims to raise the knowledge level, change the attitudes of unhealthy practices during the summer and vacation period, and encourage the adoption of healthy behaviors among community groups during the summer.
Moreover, this campaign, targeting the travelers and vacationers, aims to identify the health problems occurring during the summer holidays, and their effects on the health of individuals and society, and to emphasize on the importance of following up the proper health patterns to ensure better health, more importantly, the healthy nutrition, the physical activity, and the call to stick to healthy practices and behaviors during the summer period.
“The campaign deals with the health topics and issues that affect the health of individuals and groups, especially in the summer holidays. These topics and issues include food safety, safety in the parks, safety in swimming pools, protection against sexually transmitted diseases, and domestic accidents, as well as diet balance, physical activity, protection against drug abuse, and addiction of using electronic devices among children.
The summer months are of a special nature in its weather conditions, during which a lot of people used to change some of their habits and visit certain sites and places to spend many times outside home, helping young and old alike, to go off far away from work and study troubles accompanying the rest of year seasons and periods.” said Dr. Marghalani.
Within the same vein, the campaign activities include conducting interviews with doctors and specialists in radio and television talk shows, preparation of the “Health Dose” program on "YouTube" channel, production of health awareness programs, as well as raising the health awareness via social networking sites, and organizing mobile health awareness exhibitions in malls and parks through using models.
These exhibitions are reckoned as an inventive step aiming at introducing the risk factors of non-communicable diseases and the ways of prevention against them, by following the proper health patterns. In addition, this campaign will focus on the international and regional airports, through targeting travelers by means of putting counters to provide health education activities for travelers, and supply them with information and publications on the campaign.
Also, the campaign includes the utilization of the summer centers in schools; to spread the awareness publications of the campaign. Furthermore, a number of doctors and specialists will be hosted over the Media and Health Awareness Information Center’s toll-free number: 8002494444; in an endeavor to answer callers' inquiries as well as providing them with medical tips and guidelines.
It is noteworthy that the MOH, represented by the Media, Relations and Health Awareness General Department, launches an awareness campaign annually to deliver its health educational messages, targeting certain groups, for the protection against diseases and health symptoms that may disturb the assembly of these groups. Also, the MOH is keen to broadcast, via the available mass media, the health messages and tips that will help members of the targeted groups to positively change their health behavior, which is to be added to the partnership with different sectors in the community.