Layan Damanhouri
Saudi Gazette
A select group of young leaders announced a new campaign to fight obesity and promote a healthy lifestyle that will commence on Saturday under the slogan “Lighter Khobar”.
After participating last month at Shaping Davos in a virtual discussion with three other cities around the world on tackling issues of unemployment, youth at Global Shapers Khobar have a series of projects this year to introduce to their community.
Global Shapers Community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum, is a network of hubs around the world to gather influential youth to come up with solutions for local problems and making a positive impact in society.
Salma Alheraiqi, curator of Al-Khobar hub, says the upcoming initiative invites people to join a 30-day challenge to lose weight where winners of the competition will receive a free membership and sessions at partnering health centers in the Eastern Province.
“Whoever wants to take part in the challenge can go to the health center on Saturday and Sunday. They can come get their measurements, learn steps on how to participate in the challenge,” Alheraiqi told Saudi Gazette.
At the end of the month, participants will take their measurements again to compare their progress after the program.
According to a recent study by the Obesity Research Center in King Saud University, an alarming rate of 23.6 percent of women and 14 percent of men in the Kingdom suffer from obesity, considered to be one of the highest in the world.
Diabetes is equally a prevalent disease among Saudis due to unhealthy lifestyles, where 17.6 percent of adults are diabetic, a number above the global average. As many as 23,420 people died of diabetes last year, according to the International Diabetes Federation in the MENA region.
Global Shapers also launched an ongoing social media campaign offering tips and advice on healthy eating and exercising.
“We’re also developing a package for companies, specifically small businesses, to encourage healthy lifestyles,” said Alheraiqi, who holds a university degree in finance and entrepreneurship from the United States. “A lot of them don’t have the resources to offer employees healthy food options in the cafeteria. We want to team up with nutritionists and experts in the health field to give specific guidelines and plans for companies that they can implement in their centers.”
