News and Media

Sahtak Awalan offers health advice to students and their parents

Children and their parents were given ideas on how to create a heathy, tasty lunch - and a lunchbox to carry it in.
Children and their parents were given ideas on how to create a heathy, tasty lunch - and a lunchbox to carry it in.

WCM-Q’s Sahtak Awalan – Your Health First initiative supported a national campaign to provide information and advice to the 300,000 children and their families as they prepared for the first day back at school.

In conjunction with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the Ministry of Interior, the Sahtak Awalan team visited malls in Doha and distributed educational information and health tips to help returning students and their families adopt healthy lifestyle habits as the new academic year begins.

They also gave away Your Health First lunchboxes and water bottles along with innovative ideas to inspire and guide students and their parents to prepare healthy, nutritious lunches to eat at school and at home.

The nationwide campaign is called “Bil Ilm Nabnee Qatar” which means “With Knowledge, we build Qatar” and aims to prepare students for the school year after the long summer holidays.

Similarly, WCM-Q’s Your Health First campaign aims to provide the knowledge, motivation and tools people in Qatar need to make healthy lifestyle choices, such as eating a balanced diet and taking regular exercise.

The ministry’s two-week campaign staged a variety of activities at two malls in Doha – Dar Al Salam Mall in Abu Hamour and Gulf Mall in Al Gharafa – and Sahtak Awalan was at both to hand out booklets, leaflets and healthy recipes for students and their parents, explaining the best foods to eat to maintain good health and ideas for making exercise fun.

Nesreen Al-Rifai, chief communications officer at WCM-Q said:

“WCM-Q via Sahtak Awalan - Your Health First is delighted to contribute to this extremely important campaign by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.”

Mohanad Hesham, aged 12, a year eight student at Newton British Academy, said:

“I like playing football and swimming so I need to eat good food to make me strong and healthy. I like milk and it gives you protein for your muscles and is good for your bones. I also like to have a salad and fruits, which can give you the vitamins you need.”

Dr. Nasser Alhayki has two children, aged six and four. He said:

“There is so much advertising for fast food that children become very attracted to it. However, it is not too difficult to make sure your children eat healthy food as long as you educate them so that they understand why it’s so important for them.

It’s good news that people are spreading the message about healthy eating to children in Qatar.”