Qatar urges employers to install gyms in workplaces

Health chiefs in Qatar are urging employers to fit out workplaces with gyms as part of a five-year national strategy for nutrition and physical activity. A senior official of the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) has said that companies in the public and private sectors have been asked to implement the proposal, Qatar daily The Peninsula reported on Tuesday. Faced with a high rate of obesity and diabetes, Qatar is waging a campaign to promote a healthy lifestyle among nationals as well as residents. According to official data, more than 50 percent of the population in the country does not engage in any regular physical activity, the paper said. “All employers should provide opportunities for physical exercise to their staff at the workplace or they should support the staff to avail of such facilities outside,” said Dr Sheikha Ghanoud bint Mohammed Al Thani, director of Health Promotion and Non-communicable diseases department at SCH, in an interview with Al Sharq, cited by the paper. She said the SCH also plans to set up a national database on diseases related to occupational health and conduct a nationwide survey on chronic and non-communicable diseases. According to statistics given in the national strategy document, Qatar has the second highest prevalence of obesity in the GCC region. Seventy-one percent of all residents are overweight (among Qataris, 75 percent). Thirty-two percent of all residents are obese or morbidly obese (among Qataris, 40 percent). The prevalence of childhood obesity is also high at 28 percent. The occurrence of diabetes among Qataris is 16.7 percent, the fourth highest rate in the world. The global average is estimated at 6.4 percent.