Various strategies have been implemented to steer the community towards a healthier lifestyle including the Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) Programme and School-Based Healthy Lifestyle Programme.
The Health Promotion Centre (HPC) was first estab- lished in 2008. To achieve the nation’s vision, HPC has engaged in efforts to further raise awareness, knowledge and understanding on health and healthy lifestyles among Bruneians.
The centre serves as a resource centre for the public to receive information, skills and tools on health, and acts as a community outreach centre providing health education programmes and activities for the community.
HPC has carried out various programmes and activi- ties, including collaborations with the private sector and organisations to engage with the community to practice healthier lifestyles.
Some of the progammes and activities carried out include a series of roadshows on healthy lifestyles in schools and the workplace, healthy lifestyle exhibitions and talks, Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) Programme and School-Based Healthy Lifestyle Programme. These initiatives aim to convey information and knowledge to the community on healthy living, promote healthy lifestyles as a daily practice, and enhance awareness on the dangers of non-commu- nicable diseases (NCDs).
The Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) programme handled by HPC, helps organisations enhance or maintain the health of their employees in relation to their lifestyles.
The programme aims to adapt and mold employees into practicing a healthy lifestyle through a holistic approach which includes education, training and encouraging a health-conducive workplace envi- ronment. This improvement in the health of the employees will not only be good for the employees themselves, but will also in turn benefit the organ- isations they are working for, contributing to the success of businesses and ultimately, at the macro level, a healthy economy.
Among the lifestyle health risk factors include unhealthy dietary habits, lack of physical activity, being overweight or obese, smoking, poor stress management, and non-communicable diseases.
For participating organisations, the programme is expected to yield benefits such as improvement in employee productivity and performance, better staff retention rate, as well as an increase in profits and enhancement of the organisation’s image.
The School-Based Healthy Lifestyle Programme, pri- marily focused on students, is a six-month healthy lifestyle programme involving educational group sessions that place emphasis on diet and physical activities, including the enforcement of school can- teen guidelines.
Included under this programme is the Fit4Good programme, designed to reduce and control weight gain among students with obesity by taking a group educational and motivational approach to prompt positive behavioural change among students. The programme also seeks to establish collaboration with school canteen vendors and teachers.
Also part of the School-Based Healthy Lifestyle Programme are education group sessions and phys- ical exercise classes. Incorporated into the co-cur- riculum activities of the schools, these education sessions are conducted by dietitians or health edu- cation officers, who brief students on the benefits of consuming fruits and vegetables, physical exercise, and other health related issues. The physical exercise classes, meanwhile, are held weekly as part of the schools’ physical activity programmes.
The clinic serves as a centre which provides healthy lifestyle programmes and services to help individ- uals lose weight. The programmes are run in col- laboration with local fitness centres or gyms, and participants are put through a guided health regimen where they are provided motivational support, made to undergo physical activities and given a strict healthy diet plan. The clinic’s programmes have been successful in helping prevent and control chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and hypercholesterolemia among obese individuals, and getting them to main- tain a healthy lifestyle.
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