Qatar National Nutrition and Physical Activity Action Plan comes among the most prominent initiatives implemented by the Ministry of Health in this regard, as the plan achieved several successes during the year 2019 through the implementation of its goals and recommendations.
Among the most notable are the ‘Fat, Sugar and Salt reduction Initiative in Qatar” to cut such content in food and beverages by engaging the public and private sectors and preparing a road map for the next three years, continuing the implementation of the Health in the Workplace programme and involving new entities in the programme, and continuing to implement the national programme for health-promoting schools.
The plan also contributed to the imposition of a selective tax on soft drinks and energy drinks, training and strengthening the capabilities of healthcare providers on the nutrition guidelines for the State of Qatar to standardise nutritional messages for all members of the Qatari community, and continuing to implement the school canteen guide to ensure the availability of healthy food and drinks for school students.
The implementation of the guidelines for foods and beverages in health facilities and workplaces is also being followed up to ensure the availability of healthy options, and the implementation of the World Health Program on new growth plans for schoolchildren from 5-19 years old to monitor obesity rates, overweight and underweight.
Within the framework of the recommendations and projects of the National Plan for Nutrition and Physical Activity in 2020, a cookbook containing more than 70 recipes for popular and other foods on the healthy way will be distributed along with the Qatar 2021 report on the physical activity of children and young adults.
The MoPH and its partners are working to implement the National Health Strategy 2018-2022, which set several goals to be reached by 2022, in the framework of promoting physical activity and healthy lifestyles.
The goals of the National Health Strategy include increasing years of life by one year for the population aged 65 years and over, in addition to reducing the tobacco consumption rate by 5%, and achieving 100% of health promotion and disease prevention initiatives included in the National Development Plan of Implementation.
For the health care sector, and 55% of government and semi-government organisations benefit from occupational health and wellness programs.The State of Qatar, through adopting a ‘health in all policies’ approach, will be able to adopt at least one community as a health city by the World Health Organisation.