Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, November 9th, 2023
His Excellency the Minister of Health, Mr. Fahd bin Abdul Rahman Al-Jalajel, will launch the fifth edition of the national initiative “Walk 30" for the year 2023, next Saturday in Digital City, Riyadh, within the largest health and sports gathering in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to encourage walking for 30 minutes daily, and to raise public health rates by increasing the average lifespan of the population, in order to achieve the goals of Saudi Vision 2030, towards building a vibrant society and achieving a better quality of life through a sustainable healthy lifestyle.The Ministry of Health explained that the initiative aims to establish walking behavior among KSA's citizens and residents, measure community awareness and know their cognitive and athletic levels in the practice of walking, facilitate the sport of walking for the community and raise awareness and education of its importance and health benefits.The Ministry stated that the “Walk 30" initiative covers a group of diverse activities including a “self-test" that measures an individual's level of walking practice and provides scientific solutions for planning and continuing the practice. The second activity is “The Reality of Walking in the Kingdom", which is a study on the reality of Saudi society towards walking, and revealing its impact on society, in addition to a “creative campaign" to raise awareness of walking behavior and market the initiative and its activities.The activities also include a “community competition", to maintain 8,000 steps per day through “Sehatty" application. In addition to that, “community interaction" which is an incentive for all business entities in the Kingdom to participate in the initiative by walking through their headquarters for 30 minutes, sharing impressions on their accounts on social media platforms. Besides, “Healthy Mall" which involves activating a walking track in seven malls (commercial centers) during the summer period, to avoid the heat of the external atmosphere. Among the activities is a “field event", which is scheduled to be held in all regions of the Kingdom next Saturday 11/11/2023.The Ministry of Health started the “Walk 30" initiative in 2019. The 2022 edition came with the participation of the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, while the number of participants in past years reached about 16,000 in various regions of the Kingdom.It is noteworthy that the initiative contributes to encouraging society to increase the rate of physical activity, maintain health, and resist chronic diseases. The event is held once a year and is activated in more than 20 cities around the Kingdom.