Students visiting the pavilion of Primary Health Care Corporation, at the Ruqaya Preparatory School for Girls.
DOHA: A Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) initiative is using the promotion of a healthy lifestyle to encourage Qatar’s school students to consider a career in the healthcare industry.
By showing the positive effects of leading a healthy lifestyle through eating well and exercising, HMC’s Health Professions Awareness Programme (HPAP) is encouraging students to think about a future in the industry.
The HPAP team, led by Balqees Al Khazraji, Director of Health Professions Awareness and Volunteering Programmes at HMC, and Dr Khalid Abdulnoor, Director of Hamad International Training Center (HITC) and Head of the “Kulluna” safety campaign, recently held a three day health and wellbeing expo at the Ruqaya Preparatory School for Girls.
The three-day expo, which has toured several schools in Qatar already, uses information and activities about healthy lifestyles to promote careers in the healthcare profession. Using the theme’Students’ Health - a Fruitful Future Investment,’ the team from HMC also focuses on familiarising the students with the different services and specialties provided by the Corporation’s eight hospitals and scholarships and employment opportunities in the medical, nursing or allied health fields.
Khazraji said the event at Ruqaya was part of HMC’s community outreach and said that a number of HMC departments participated in this exhibition, in addition to other participants from both public and private sectors in the health and wellbeing industry.
Around 15 students from each of the 40 government schools visited Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) pavilion at the Ruqaya Preparatory School for Girls.
PHCC Health Promotion Manager Yousra Bagadi explained that the initative aims to offer students the knowledge and skills they need to become successful learners, healthy and productive adults and to provide education on key health problems young people face.
PHCC provided health services such as measuring blood pressure, and informed about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle to improve the quality of life of individuals, families and the community.
“School health education programmes can reduce youth health risk behaviours such as poor nutrition and lack of physical activity which contribute to some diseases. Health Exhibition builds students’ knowledge, skills, and positive attitudes about health, and teaches about physical, mental, emotional and social health. It motivates students to improve and maintain their health, prevent disease, and reduce risky behaviors,” said Bagadi.
Principal of Ruqaya Preparatory for Girls, Maryam Al Emadi, explained it’s a great initiative to gather specialists from the healthcare sector of Qatar and let students know about the benefits of having a good lifestyle. “The middle years of childhood are extremely sensitive for a number of health issues, especially when it comes to adopting habits that can have lifelong consequences”, she added.
“We need to teach health education from kindergarten and continuing through secondary school, it provides an introduction to the human body and to factors that prevent illness and promote or damage health”, Al Emadi concluded.
The Peninsula
