His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah, has stated that the Ministry is seeking to become a Health Promoting Entity (EPS), instead of being an entity only interested in providing health services to patients, and that health awareness to be a major motivation for a healthy life for all people. During the honoring ceremony for the winners of the Health Awareness “Wa3i”, which has been held yesterday evening under the auspices of His Excellency the Minister of Health, he indicated that one of the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) objectives in light of the Saudi Vision 2030 is to raise the average age of people in the Kingdom from 74 years to 80 years. “However it is a difficult objective, but the most important factor in its achievement is to promote the health awareness among community members of all its categories,” said Al-Rabiah.
Within the same vein, he has expressed his pride of the innovations of the Kingdom’s youths and their interaction with the Award, the matter which reflects the tremendous powers of the Kingdom’s people. He indicated that the Award witnessed a great interaction, in terms of receiving a number of 4,000 participations in the various tracks of the Award.
“Changing the health lifestyles is a fundamental and key objective for achieving a healthy life free of chronic diseases that killed a lot of people, as diabetes is considered the major cause of blindness and loss of limbs in the Kingdom,” said Al-Rabiah, highlighting the importance of changing some simple practices (e.g. walking and other healthy habits) to achieve a healthy lifestyle.
He went on adding that the mobile phone currently represents a threat to parents at homes; as it has produced a generation that does not want to move and is dependent on electronic devices, the matter which foreshadows a generation of diabetes. Besides, Al-Rabiah underscored the importance of awareness to change many misconceptions. The ceremony included several sessions, and the winners of the award have been announced and honored by His Excellency the Minister of Health.
It is worth mentioning that the MOH has recently launched the Awareness Award “Wa3i”, which is a public competition for all community members. It aimed at their participation in promoting the health awareness, in an endeavor to reduce the incidence of diseases and increase activity and job production. The Award consists of four different tracks; short films, photographs, infographic designs and drawing, targeting those individuals interested in educating the community, and the companies or associations interested in spreading health awareness and community participation, in addition to a special track for health affairs general directorates and medical cities.