The opening meeting of the National “contributing” program to combat obesity in the Kingdom, with the wide participation of experts and media professionals

The activities of the “contributing” program were launched in the capital, one of the qualitative national initiatives concerned with controlling obesity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, during the opening meeting held at the Crown Plaza Hotel Riyadh in the presence of a group of health leaders, health practitioners, and media representatives. It should be noted that the “contributing” program aims to highlight obesity as a chronic disease that requires medical intervention Integrated transcends traditional concepts based on individual blame. The program seeks to build an integrated health system that enhances prevention and early diagnosis and providing effective treatment options based on scientific evidence, in parallel with sustainable societal awareness efforts. The meeting witnessed a wide participation of journalists from various media outlets, along with a number of prominent speakers, including His Excellency Professor Dr. Abdul Rahman Al -Sheikh, Dr. Saud Al -Safri and Dr. Ali Al -Shehri.

Dr. Saud Al -Safri, Al -Batinah consultant and head of endocrine and diabetes departments in the hospitals of the armed forces in the calm, stressed that the “contributing” program is a national initiative to explore the opinions of health practitioners, especially primary care doctors and family doctors, with the aim of monitoring the challenges they direct in dealing with obesity patients, and determining their training needs, in order to develop specialized rehabilitation programs based on the field reality according to the field. For the results of the questionnaire. Dr. Saud added that obesity is a chronic disease that requires multiple interventions that include prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, and therefore it was necessary to rehabilitate and train medical cadres on the latest tools and scientific standards in diagnosis and therapeutic intervention of obesity, to ensure uniform practices based on evidence.

During the event, the program’s executive plan, which included several axes, was reviewed, the most prominent of which is the implementation of field activities and awareness campaigns targeting the public community in schools, workplaces, and commercial centers, in cooperation with government and private agencies, as well as organizing workshops and training courses for doctors and nutritionists and nursing, to ensure unifying therapeutic practices according to the latest global recommendations, in addition to developing multi -channel educational content that is produced It was published in partnership with the media, to ensure awareness messages reaching the largest segment of the population.

The speakers emphasized that the program is consistent with the targets of the Kingdom’s 2030 vision in raising the quality of life, promoting public health, and reducing the burden of chronic diseases, stressing at the same time the importance of the role of the media as a strategic partner in correcting false concepts about obesity, and re -introducing them as a healthy issue that deserves societal and scientific solidarity, and publishing awareness messages addressed to society in a scientific and human way.

The event concluded with a set of recommendations that emphasized the importance of the integration of roles between the regulators, scientific societies, practitioners and the media, to reach a successful national model in the face of obesity and reduce its health and economic effects.