National Physical Fitness programme on cards
THE Government is crafting a National Physical Fitness programme which will see every citizen expected to participate in some form of physical exercise in efforts to promote healthy lifestyles.
Implementation of the programme, according to the Ministry of Sport and Recreation, will help reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases such as obesity, among other such lifestyle diseases.
According to the Population Reference Bureau an estimated 21 percent of deaths in Zimbabwe are due to noncommunicable diseases.
Non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular, cancer, mental health, diabetes mellitus and chronic respiratory complications are common in Zimbabwe.
Minister of Sport and Recreation Cde Makhosini Hlongwane yesterday told Sunday News that the national fitness programme will be rolled out across all demographics countrywide.
“There is a global epidemic of non-communicable diseases which could otherwise be arrested by interventions in the domain of physical exercise regimes.
“My ministry is busy crafting a National Physical Fitness programme which we think is going to go a long way in terms of picking up the bill on non-communicable diseases by our colleagues in the Ministry of Health (and Child Care),” he said.
Cde Hlonganwe said his ministry was working with stakeholders and various groups working the development of manuals for the program which will be submitted before cabinet for approval.
He said the programme will, among other things, ensure the availability of enough gymnasiums in communities to enable easy access of such facilities by citizens.
“The programme will include adapted models of physical fitness programming such as outdoor gyms and so on in order to enable easy access to these models by all stakeholders.
“Once completed, and adopted by Cabinet, the programme will be launched nationally for rolling out throughout the country,” he said.
Cde Hlongwane noted with concern the absence of a culture of physical exercise in the country which he said if nurtured will impact positively on production.
“There is an intravenous link between physical fitness of a population and productivity. The physical fitness dividend must now be harnessed for concentrated channelling into the Zim Asset goals of development.
“The health dividend of the programme is obvious. You will have a productive population that therefore will be able to contribute more to the Gross Domestic Product of our economy,” he said.
Cde Hlongwane also pointed out that sport and physical exercise played an important role in achieving social inclusion, cohesion and stability within societies.