PUTRAJAYA: A total of 70,000 people, the majority of them youths, took part in the nationwide ‘Nak Sihat’ (Want To Be Healthy)campaign, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr. S Subramaniam said yesterday.
He said the government was committed to make sports and physical activities as part of people’s daily routine because studies showed that the individual average for sports, physical activity and high intensity exercise was less than 20 minutes, whereas 30 minutes was the recommended daily duration.
Furthermore the Ministry was stressing on instilling a healthy lifestyle among the general population due to serious issues such as overweight and obesity being at 29.4 per cent and 15.1 per cent respectively, he said.
“This means almost 8.5 million Malaysians are overweight and almost 4.4 million are obese. So 1 in 3 adult is obese or overweight.
“This figure is expected to rise from year to year if no efforts are taken to reduce it,” he said after launching the ‘Nak Sihat’ campaign in conjunction with the Merdeka 10,000 Steps A Day programme, at Dataran Wawasan Presint 2, Putrajaya which was attended by 5,000 people here yesterday.
He said the campaign, which is in its fourth year, focused on raising awareness and educating youths on the importance of having a positive attitude towards physical activities, taking part in such activities daily and making it part of the culture.
“Information technology has become part of youth culture now. They’re addicted to games and the social media.
They just sit around the whole day and hardly move. It’s very unhealthy. We need to remind them to get active,” he added.
Dr Subramaniam also noted that the government would provide more recreational and sports facilities in housing estates and apartments to encourage a more active life style.
He informed that the 10,000 steps a day campaign, a low intensity activity suitable for all ages, was now well received by the public. — Bernama