The governor of the Upper River Region Samba Bah over the weekend formerly presided over the 2023 Sport for Health.
The initiative now very popular is held every year organised by the ministry of youth and sports through the National Sports Council NSC to promote physical fitness and disease prevention among civil servants and the population at large. It is conducted in collaboration with the ministry of health.
Addressing participants who gathered at the St. George’s Lower Basic School Governor Samba Bah urged them to embrace physical activities to promote good health.
He vowed that his office will replicate the initiative in the region once every month.
Speaking earlier, the executive director of the National Sport Council, Marchel Mendy, commended the governor and his office for the collaboration and for ensuring the Sport for Health 2023 was a success.
Mr Mendy went on the explain that Sport for Health which takes the form of a three-day event each year is designed to instill in the citizenry, a culture of regular exercise in order to combat non communicable diseases which according to him, have become prevalent. He encouraged participants to ensure they continue to do regular exercise even after this year’s event.
The director of health services, Dr. Mustapha Bittaye, told the gathering that regular physical activity is one of the surest ways of eliminating non communicable diseases, adding “anyone who does regular physical exercise reduces the chances of him or her visiting the hospital”.
Deputising for the WHO Country Representative, Dr. Momodou Gassama revealed that according to WHO statistics, one out of every four adults are inactive and that about 80% of adolescents worldwide are inactive and over eight hundred thousand people die annually as a result of conditions highly related to inactiveness. This he said calls for concerted efforts to address the situation, hence the annual Sport for Health.
A large turnout was recorded with the governors of all regions participating in the event. Each of them showed great enthusiasm for the event. The Sport for Health 2023 is jointly funded by the WHO, the ministry of health and the ministry of youth and sports.
