Faith groups can promote healthy living

THE EDITOR: The global pandemic has given everyone the opportunity to reflect much more on healthy living and recognise the need to take responsibility for one's health.

Although many faith-based bodies are engaged in health promotion activities including conducting wellness fairs, the time has come for more of the numerous faith-based groups to become more actively engaged in health education programmes in order to build a healthier nation.

Here are a few things these groups can do to promote healthy living:

* Arrange for a 15-20 minute health feature in the main weekly service once every month or every two months.

* Conduct an annual health emphasis week.

* Arrange interactive workshops to support parents in their quest to raise healthy children.

* Conduct special programmes to mark one or two of the major annual health and wellness days, for example:

* World Hypertension Day – May 17

* World No Tobacco Day – May 31

* Caribbean Wellness Day – second Saturday in September

* World Heart Day – September 29

* World Diabetes Day – November 14

Faith-based organisations can enlist the assistance of health professionals to conduct education programmes for their memberships and the wider community.

It's time to give more attention to the promotion of healthy living.

IAN GREEN

Couva