The Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) marked National Sports Day yesterday, Tuesday 14 February, by organizing many health and sporting events at Lusail’s fan zone, which were attended by PHCC’s directors, administrative, medical, and nursing staff along with their families and the public.

The variety of activities PHCC proposed, which were lauded by all, included sports matches, individual and group physical activities, and healthy diet-related messages. There was also a great turnout at the health awareness corner supervised by dieticians who introduced healthy lifestyles, offered medical advice, and educated participants, including staff, the public, and their families, about the importance of joining healthy diet programs and performing physical activities. Nurses were also there to take vital signs, such as BMI, along with health and fitness coaches to answer participants inquires.

Those efforts were critical as there is a close link between regular exercise and prevention of many chronic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity.

These tests and measures were followed by physical and sports activities, games, and competitions— all fall under ‘exercise’ category.

Furthermore, PHCC organized awareness lectures on sports and physical activity for its staff in the Head Quarters in both Arabic and English.

PHCC also urged all its affiliates, members of society, and all authorities in the country to invest in and benefit from the National Sport Day, by exercising on this day individually or in groups. The importance of organizing the National Sport Day lies in the country’s aim to bring the health benefits of sport with its moral and human values, raise awareness among people in the country of the importance of sports in their daily life routine, and encourage them to exercise throughout the year to become a part of their daily routine. Changes in the daily routine, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator and parking cars away from destination and walking to stay healthy, can make a difference.

For her part, Dr. Mariam Ali Abdulmalik, Managing Director of PHCC, said while being at the events site in Lusail City that the National Sport Day is a pioneering Qatari idea, which comes in line with the National Health Strategy 2018-2022, which included one of the most important pillars of the Qatar National Vision 2030 concerned with “improving the health of Qatar’s population, through an integrated healthcare system, managed according to world-class standards, designed to meet the needs of existing and future generations and provide for an increasingly healthy and lengthy life for all.”

The National Health Strategy’s vision is based on putting this strategy into practice by meeting the needs of the existing generation and providing more integrated care. The shift from being disease-focused to individuals’ and population’s health-focused, from acute and occasional care to integration and continuity of care, from the strong focus on primary care as the basis of care and considering care costs useless, to considering investing in health as an investment in the future, and from a population that receives a health care advice, to enabling individuals to take care of their own health matters.

The second National Health Strategy came to achieve three goals represented in better health, better care, and better value, by providing services to seven priority groups in society: Children and adolescents’, healthy women leading to healthy pregnancies, healthy and safe employees, mental health and wellbeing, improved health for people with multiple chronic conditions, health, and wellbeing for people with special needs, and healthy aging.

PHCC ensured to have health and wellness departments to provide outstanding services, which witness a great demand from all ages.

PHCC also raised awareness about sports and its importance through short videos uploaded on social media and a live broadcast on Facebook titled “The Importance of Exercise for the Elderly” by fitness trainers from the Wellness Department.

It is worth noting that PHCC’s School Health Department also participated in the National Sport Day activities, given the importance of promoting the health of students, as well as children at kindergartens.
With regard to external entities, PHCC’s fitness and health coaches and dietitians were sent to the Ministry of Municipality, the Civil Service and Government Development Bureau, Qatar University’s Sport Affairs, the Center for Empowerment and Care of the Elderly (Ehsan), the General Retirement and Social Insurance Authority, and Al Gharafa Sports club.