By Noimot Olayiwola/Staff Reporter

Minister al-Qahtani with Sheikh and other guests during the launch of the initiative yesterday
A nationwide public health awareness campaign – “Your Health First’ – aimed at healthy behaviour and disease prevention – was launched yesterday by the Minister of Public Health and Supreme Council of Health (SCH)’s secretary-general HE Abdullah bin Khalid al-Qahtani.
“Your Health First”, or Sahtak Awalan in Arabic, is a five-year multi-stage awareness campaign, the first of which focuses on awareness and core public health concepts, especially a healthy lifestyle, nutrition and health education.
Initial and subsequent stages will make use of all possible media, including social networks, to reach the largest possible audience and achieve the campaign’s goals.
Apart from creating awareness about health issues which have arisen due to socio-economic growth in the country, other objectives of the initiative jointly launched by the SCH and the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) were:
n to provide an interactive platform with healthcare professionals which will lead to increased public knowledge about diseases and steps to avoid or manage future complications;
n to motivate people into living a healthier lifestyle;
n to provide health and medical information in layman’s terminology which is easy for the general public to understand;
n to turn negative health behaviours into a healthy life style; and
n to create healthy habits among member of the younger population in order to achieve a healthy society in Qatar, in line with the Qatar national vision 2030.
While the campaign’s primary target audience comprises children and teens as well as young adults aged 18-35 years, a secondary target group comprised people aged 35-55 years and above.
“Your Health First” will target the Qatar community, both nationals and foreigners.
“The campaign will be executed mainly in Arabic, with collateral produced in Arabic, English and Urdu,” WCMC-Q dean Dr Javaid Sheikh said.
“The first phase of this campaign being launched today will continue for the next six months with focus on creating awareness about general health tips and healthy lifestyle among the population,” he said.
Sheikh said that the campaign consists of five stages.
The first stage is from June 25 to December 31, during which a range of related awareness events will be held targeting different age groups, with a focus on children and teens.
“During this time, the focus will be on health information and preventive measures; simplified medical terms will be used to ensure that the public will make use of the information provided.
“The first phase of the campaign covers a wide range of topics including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, psychological health, woman and child healthcare, bone health and rheumatoid arthritis, stress and insomnia, benefits of vitamins, cancer, healthy eating habits amongst children, teens and adults,” Sheikh explained.
According to him, the initiative includes five-minute health awareness programmes to be aired on Qatar Television during Ramadan, as well as daily health tips via Qatar Radio.
“Your Health First’ will also make use of digital media and social networks, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, to reach the largest number of Qatar nationals and expatriates living in the country,” he said, adding: “The programme’s exclusive telecommunication partner, Vodafone Qatar, which is a joint venture between Vodafone and Qatar Foundation, will develop a bespoke application for the campaign that can be downloaded by users of smartphones.”
The app will provide users with updated health tips for healthy lifestyles, he said.
Vodafone Qatar will also launch an SMS campaign in support of WCMC-Q’s initiative.
“These programmes include the ‘Painting a Healthy Future’ initiative, which aims to attract people of different ages to participate in creating a collective health-related painting which will, hopefully, break a world record and enter the Guinness Book of World Records.
“‘Be Ready for the Challenge’ is an inter-school contest that will see schools compete to raise health awareness,” he said.
Each of the other stages of WCMC-Q’s “Your Health First” campaign will last for a year with a focus on two health issues as well as public health, he said.
The initiative is being organised in partnership with Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum in Qatar, and Vodafone Qatar.