Seyx30: En Nouvo Style’ |27 February 2015

Preventing, restraining overweight and obesity among adolescents and youth

 The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently stated from data collected that Seychelles has the highest proportion of overweight and obese men and women in sub-saharan Africa. This information was released recently by the Seychelles News Agency.

The report describes overweight as adults with Body Mass Index (BMI) surpassing 25 and obese of more than 30. BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women.

BMI Categories:
Underweight = <18.5; Normal weight = 18.5–24.9; Overweight = 25–29.9; Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater. Based on the BMI indicator, the Seychelles population is said to have around 74 per cent of the female population classified as overweight and 43 percent as obese. The proportion of overweight men in Seychelles is also the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, at 64 percent overweight and 21 per cent categorised as obese.

Dr Pascal Bovet, who is responsible for non-communicable diseases in the Seychelles Ministry of Health has questioned the methodology used in the report, stating that “few countries in Africa have adequate population-based data” and fewer were likely to have recent data on the proportion of its population classed as overweight.

According to the health official, Seychelles most recent record of population based data was taken in 2013-2014.

Dr Bovet has however not dismissed the report of WHO out of hand though, stating that it provided important indicators that are pertinent for the nine targets to be achieved by 2025 agreed by WHO member states. This includes the target of "0% increase of overweight and obesity by 2025".

He said Seychelles is well aware of the dangers of obesity and that a comprehensive and extensive programme is in place to tackle the population’s unhealthy eating habits. One of the ways to reduce weight problems is through a proper diet with a reduced overall calorie intake and reduced food proportions.

The Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC) is also doing its part to create a healthy lifestyle among the Seychellois people, especially through exercise.

And schools are the main targets. To be able to do this, the SNYC launched the  ‘Seyx30: En Nouvo Style’  as a pilot project in a ceremony on September 18 last year at the Pointe Larue secondary school.

The programme was piloted at that school between September and December 2014.

The initiative is aimed at lessening, preventing and restraining the incidence of overweight and obesity among the adolescents and youth population of Seychelles by means of physical exercise and sports. It also seeks to generally promote exercise as a vital component of healthy living.

The youth department, SNYC, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and the National Sports Council (NSC) were the partners working on the project, along with their sponsors.
The activities include aerobics and zumba sessions, walking and jogging and other activities like athletics and basketball.
As it was a pilot project which lasted until December last year, is the Seyx30: En Nouvo Style’still alive and kicking?

Seychelles NATION talked to Alain Volcère, principal secretary for Youth, for an update.

“With a view to increasing its visibility and providing it with a much-needed boost, Pointe Larue secondary school was selected for the trial exercise. It was felt that by championing the SEYx30 programme, an opportunity was being offered to the school to increase its proficiency of programmes and events organisation, strengthen its leadership structures especially at student level and perhaps most importantly to motivate as many students as possible to take part in a movement which could only have a positive effect on their well-being and schooling experience.

“With the exception of exercise instructors which were brought in from outside and transport provided to students by SPTC, almost all other organisational aspects of this endeavour were taken care of by the school which at the outset was cautioned about the importance of gaining ownership of the programme.

“Overall the idea of exercising and staying in shape had made a better impression upon the younger students who are expected to keep up with the zumba, football and walking as often as possible,” explained Mr Volcère.

It is to be noted that for the purpose of the exercise only S1 and S4 students had been invited to take part.

The way forward?

The way forward is to prepare for the programme’s launch in all the other secondary schools which have the appetite for it. The schools which have shown interest in SEYx30 after having taken part in sensitisation sessions, have each recruited a group of dedicated teachers and members of staff who will implement the programme based on their individual school’s characteristics, taking into consideration availability of space and facilities, age group as well as wishes of students when selecting exercise activities.

Awareness and sensitisation

The success of the programme will depend to a great extent on sensitisation and awareness of not just students but also their parents, the media, public and private organisations, as well as the public at large. This is a national campaign. That is why its implementation is co-ordinated and overseen by a steering committee with multi-sectoral representation. It is incumbent upon all partners to ensure its promotion through advertisements and other forms of publicity. It is being planned to mount TV sports, newspaper advertisements and articles, posters and banners.

Workshop

Physical Education (PE) currently features in school curriculum. One of the objectives of the proponents of the SEYx30 programme is to work in tandem with PE to increase students’ involvement in sports and outdoor activities.

In fact, a workshop for all school facilitators and teachers in the SEYx30 programme was held at SITE (Ex-NIE) yesterday in preparation for the launch of the programme in all schools during the first half of this year.

Membership of the SEYx30 Steering Committee: Youth Department, Seychelles National Youth Council, Ministry of Health, Health Agency, National Sports Council, Ministry of Education, Department of Community Development & Sports.

Compiled by M. Julie