City spreads healthy living culture to 250 schools

25 January 2016

 

The City of Johannesburg’s Go Jozi Healthy Lifestyle Schools Programme is to be rolled out to more schools this year.

The rewards-based Discovery-Vitality Healthy Lifestyle Schools Programme was launched last year by Executive Mayor Councillor Parks Tau at Ponelopele Oracle Secondary School in Ivory Park, near Tembisa.

 

It was first mooted in 2011 as part of efforts to reign in rampant lifestyle diseases and conditions among children.

Councillor Nonceba Molwele, the City’s Member of the Mayor Committee for Health and Social Development, says 132 schools have already registered for the programme and by June this year it will be rolled out to more than 250 schools. The programme will help fight lifestyle diseases such as obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol among pupils.

“If we start these programmes in schools, the children will get used to the discipline and we will raise a healthy generation,” she says.

MMC Molwele says schools have a lot of incentives to join the scheme. Each of the registered schools appoints wellness champions to assist with the coordination and sustenance of the programme. Each school receives a R5 000 voucher to buy training equipment. Schools that do well in the programme qualify for a R50 000 cash prize. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years.

“Globally, in 2013 the number of overweight children under the age of five was estimated to be over 42 million. Close to 31 million of these are living in developing countries,” the WHO says.

The MMC says overweight and obese children are likely to remain obese into adulthood and more likely to develop non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular ailments at a young age. Prevention of childhood obesity is therefore a high priority for the City, says MMC Molwele.

Healthy eating habits and exercising go a long way, she adds.

“Parents need to do away with packing lunch boxes filled with sugary snacks and fizzy drinks and substitute them with nutritional foods such as fruit, whole grains, vegetables and proteins. Our children need to get out in to the sun and be active as opposed to sitting in front of a computer or PlayStation all day.”

Tuck shops in schools need to be regulated to include healthy foods. For more information visit www.cojhealthyschool.co.za