Museveni urges Ugandans to embrace lifestyle change

Jun 18, 2023

Muhanga noted that 75 percent of our diseases are preventable and that non-communicable diseases are the ones that kill the most.

Museveni urges Ugandans to embrace lifestyle change

Michael Nsubuga
Sports journalist @New Vision

President Yoweri Museveni has urged all the players in the health sector to intensify public campaigns on nutrition diets and the benefits of physical exercise to curb non-communicable diseases.

This was through a message to all Ugandans on the National Day of Physical Activity, read for him by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development Ruth Nankabirwa, at Kololo Ceremonial Ground on Sunday.

“Everyone must become their doctor and nurse to succeed in the fight against diseases. Our early immunization campaign for instance yielded substantial results. We were able to keep the killer diseases like polio, measles, TB, diphtheria, etc out of Uganda,” Museveni noted.

“This prevention strategy has helped us fight dangerous diseases like HIV/Aids, Ebola, and COVID-19, etc.

“Ugandans are now more cautious of the health benefits of good hygiene, like drinking clean and boiled water, proper waste disposal, eating fully-cooked food, sleeping under a mosquito net, clearing bushes around our homesteads, etc,” he stated.

He noted that it is important for everyone to maintain robust health by avoiding all factors that can predispose an individual to ill health. “A healthy and educated population is a precondition for building a rich and prosperous nation.”

“The Public health strategy of the NRM government is based on disease prevention, this involves carrying out mass mobilization and awareness campaigns, to equip the general public with crucial information on disease prevention and control. Once the public is aware of the possible sources and causes of diseases, it is easy to reduce the disease burden on our health care system.”

He wrote that this prevention strategy had helped Uganda fight dangerous diseases like HIV/Aids, Ebola, COVID-19, etc.

“Ugandans are now more cautious of the health benefits of good hygiene, like drinking clean and boiled water, proper waste disposal, eating fully-cooked food, sleeping under a mosquito net, clearing bushes around our homesteads, etc.

He reiterated that the government will continue to invest in improving the health infrastructure across the country, to guarantee access to affordable and timely healthcare for all.

“I would like to join the Ministry of Health in raising the alarm about the danger of NCDs, the new silent killers (the lifestyle diseases that include hypertension, obesity, cancers, etc. They are more prevalent in urban areas where the population has adopted lifestyles that promote lazy-body activity and or eating fatty foods, processed foods, and beverages. Some do smoke, others engage in alcoholism,” Museveni noted before he thanked all who turned up for the day.

Nankabirwa, a fitness freak also added her voice and called on other ministries that have not embraced the fitness regimen to join the bandwagon, mingle with their staff, and work out because it was the only way of ensuring productive and healthy people.

“It is very important to fight lifestyle diseases by exercising and avoiding eating junk food, smoking, and alcoholism. Ugandans should know that this is free medicine. They only need to put in some effort to exercise and protect their hearts,” Nankabilwa advised.

Muhanga noted that 75 percent of our diseases are preventable and that non-communicable diseases are the ones that kill the most. They start from the food we eat, the environment we live in, and also the lack of physical fitness.

“Sometimes we are so comfortable that we drive from home to the office, sit behind a computer for the whole day, get back home get a very good meal and sleep with it which brings a lot of weight, because you don’t sweat to get toxins out of your body

“Countries, where people live longer, are because exercise is part of their lifestyles. We now want it from schools through a partnership with the Ministry of Education to do exercise from wherever we are. From Kindergartens to universities, they are going to dedicate a day to physical activities alone, so that children are not in school only to learn but they are healthy because health is wealth.


“We must work out our bodies, live in a clean environment, and also do medical check-ups regularly so that we prevent these NCDs which include hypertension, diabetes, and cancers among others,” Muhanga stated.

Sunday’s activity started with ‘fitness ambassador’ Moses Golola and Robert Ssebugwawo taking the participants especially the early risers through simple but intensive aerobic and cardiovascular exercises before Nankabilwa who was in the company of Commissioner in charge of non-communicable diseases Oyo, Dr. Mutungi, State Minister for Primary Education Joyce Kaducu, Minister of State for Primary Health Care Margaret Muhanga, the director public health Dr. Dan Kyabayinze, Dr. Nicholas Kamara, Dr. Hafisa Kasule the country team advisor-NCDs World Health Organisation, Dr. Gerald Mutungi the head of NCDs prevention and control program at Ministry of Health, and Commissioner Charles Oyo among other Ministry of Health Officials and some from the general participated in an 8km walk on the streets of Kampala.

 

From Kololo the walkers descended on the Wampewo avenue before turning right at the Airtel Clock towards Kampala Road. They then walked the whole street up to Bombo Road, Wandegaya, and before another right turn at the Mulago roundabout and before sloping down to the Yusuf Lule Road and before they turned left on Acacia Avenue and back to Kololo.

Help us improve! We're always striving to create great content. Share your thoughts on this article and rate it below.

Comments

No Comment


More News

More News

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});