A survey by World Health Organisation in 2012 reported that 70.1 % of adults in Qatar were overweight and 41.4 % clinically obese, while an estimated 17 % of adults were diabetic
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In a major initiative at tackling chronic diseases, the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) plans to develop a new model for public health campaigns to reverse worrying increases in type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity.
Announcing this, WCMC-Q dean Dr Javaid Sheikh pointed to a survey conducted by the World Health Organisation in 2012, which reported that 70.1 % of adults in Qatar were overweight and 41.4 % clinically obese, while an estimated 17 % of adults were diabetic.
Lifestyle factors such as lack of physical activity and over-consumption of calorie-rich foods are cited as the reasons for the high levels of obesity and diabetes in Qatar.
Delivering a lecture on “Developing a framework for an effective population health initiative: evidence from Your Health First” at the inaugural WCMC-Q Grand Rounds event, Dr Sheikh said the college’s Your Health First campaign, run in partnership with the Supreme Council of Health, is providing evidence of effective ways to deliver a
preventative healthcare initiative.
“The college’s ambition is to develop a new, more effective model for public health campaigns to reverse worrying increases in chronic conditions such as type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity. These interrelated conditions, which are largely caused by poor lifestyle choices, are particularly prevalent in the Gulf region but are also on the rise in almost all parts of the world,” he said.
“While modern medicine is very effective at treating disease, efforts to prevent people from becoming unwell in the first place by encouraging healthy lifestyles have not been anywhere near as successful. The alarming growth in the prevalence of preventable, lifestyle-related diseases means it is high
time we redressed that balance.
“We need to take a truly scientific approach to public health campaigns and preventative healthcare, just as we do with medical research and treatment, so that we can discover the strategies that really deliver results. Our own campaign, Your Health First, is providing us with a great deal of useful evidence about public engagement and this offers us a great opportunity to gain new understanding of this field and to develop the tools we need to meet some of the most pressing public health challenges of the 21st century,” he said.
Dr Sheikh said that Your Health First, a five-year campaign launched by WCMC-Q in 2012, was proving effective by utilising a wide variety of platforms to engage with the public to provide information about healthy eating, exercise and the dangers of unhealthy habits like smoking. These platforms include social media, television programmes, a smartphone app, radio commercials and traditional pamphlets.
“This will increase our capacity to implement public health strategies that make a real difference to the lives of people in Qatar and beyond, helping them to avoid debilitating conditions like type-2 diabetes, obesity and heart disease, which can have such a devastating effect on individuals and their families, ” he said.
