“World Obesity Day” is celebrated on 11 October with the aim to increase global efforts to reduce, prevent and treat obesity. Aligned with this aim, a group of First Year MBBS students organized an event at the Gulf Medical University campus for the immediate community which included students and staff. The emphasis of the event was to create an environment and a society which can facilitate the adoption of healthy lifestyle thus reducing the burden of obesity in the community.
Students organized various activities, games, talks and video presentations. The students measured the BMI of participants and were advised lifestyle modifications based on their BMI values.
Students also displayed the calorie and sugar content of highly consumed beverages with an intention to create awareness about appropriate healthy food choices.
“This year the theme of World Obesity Day ‘End weight stigma’ is the need of the time as it is the main cause of low self-esteem and depression among overweight and obese individuals”. Dr Nelofar Khan, Supervisor
Student Quotes
“It was a new experience for me and helped me increase my leadership skills and encourage teamwork. I learnt the importance of raising awareness about obesity as many of my fellow students are overweight or obese and are unaware of it.”. Hana Marium Musthafa, First Year MBBS student
“While spreading awareness about this fatal lifestyle, I underwent a slight lifestyle change as well” Mr Steve Paulson John.
“Working on the project was one of the best experiences as we learned to research on a topic, gather authentic information and share the information to our fellow colleagues with the objective of increasing their awareness” Amina Abdul Azeez.
Prof Manda Venkatramana, Dean College of Medicine appreciated the student’s efforts for creating awareness about lifestyle modification among the GMU community.
