World Health Day-Minister urges one and all to contribute to healthier and safer urbanized lifestyles |07 April 2010

“Healthy cities and healthy lifestyles begin and end with each one of us. Let each one of us, therefore, contribute towards this most important goal,” says Mrs Lloyd in her message to mark World Health Day 2010, the theme of which is Urbanization and Health.

The full text of Mrs Lloyd’s message reads:
“As customary every year, World Health Day is celebrated worldwide on April 7.  Among other objectives, the celebration focuses attention on the socio-economic value of good health.

“The theme chosen by the World Health Organisation this year is ‘Urbanization and Health’. The theme is an instrument to give greater voices to the common desire to make urbanized lifestyles everywhere safer and healthier.

“Healthier urbanized lifestyles are one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century because unhealthy urban lives are a socio-economic trend that is likely to continue if each and every one of us does not stop and think twice about how we lead our lives.

“We all agree that while urban living continues to offer many opportunities, including potential access to better health care in some places, today’s urban environments pull health risks, magnify their consequences, and introduce unimaginable hazards.

“Physically, urbanization is associated with countless risks to our food and water sources, the air we breathe and the environment in general. Violence, injury, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol are all growing urban health risks. They contribute to cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases and premature death. “Overcrowding in urban areas can easily lead to serious infectious disease outbreaks.

In many cases, especially in our developing world, the speed of urban growth has outpaced the ability of governments to build essential infrastructures that make life in cities safe, rewarding, and healthy.

“Once again, Seychelles is in a fortunate and enviable position.  Victoria is a relatively safe, rewarding and healthy place for our children to grow up in.

“But Victoria has challenges of its own and the challenges encountered in Victoria are not just limited to Victoria but spread to all our main islands. Drugs and alcohol abuse, prostitution, teenage pregnancy and child abuse are all nasty social ills that we must harness in a concerted effort in order to make our country safer and healthier.  The family, our most important social unit, must be strengthened as we become engulfed, deeper and deeper, into our urbanized lifestyles.
 
“In 2010, WHO launched a campaign entitled ‘1000 cities, 1000 lives’. This is a global movement to improve health in cities. The campaign aims to encourage cities to participate and collect various stories of urban health champions who have taken action to improve the health of their cities.  We need to encourage the Seychellois champions who are striving to improve our country, neighbourhood by neighbourhood.

“The ‘1000 cities, 1000 lives’ campaign provides a platform to bring communities together towards a common goal, united around the quest for complete physical, social and mental well-being.

“The Ministry of Health and Social Development calls on everyone in our society to contribute towards making our urbanized lifestyles healthier and safer. My ministry is extremely grateful that so many other ministries, the civil society and local private businesses have joined us in this quest.

“Healthy cities and healthy lifestyles begin and end with each one of us. Let each one of us, therefore, contribute towards this most important goal.”