Project Lifestyles Health Month to focus on wellness


~~Adz:Right~~ Roadtown, Tortola - The Department of Education in collaboration with the BVI Diabetes Association and the Elmore Stoutt High School will focus on the physical, mental, and spiritual wellness of the youth during this year’s Project Lifestyle Health Month which is observed in November.

The activities are being celebrated under the theme “Your Body, Your Life:  Make the Right Choice” and slogan “Be Aware, Choose with Care, The Consequences are Very Clear”.

Chairperson of the Project Lifestyle Committee Ms. Beverlie Brathwaite told the Department of Information and Public Relations that project lifestyle is a school based intervention programme designed to enhance positive lifestyle habits for children.  “The programme aims to provide students with the basic knowledge that will encourage them to practice healthy habits,” she said.

“We want to encourage the youth from very young so that they can be healthy and we can reduce the number of chronic diseases that can be prevented by making healthy choices,” Mrs. Brathwaite added.

Guidance Counsellor at the Elmore Stoutt High School Reverend Keith Lewis said they are in the process of building the Territory and this cannot be achieved with a population of sick people.  “We can only build a nation with healthy and able persons and we want all of our graduates from the school to be healthy and well mentally, physically and emotionally,” he said.

Project Lifestyle Health Month also coincides with the BVI Diabetes Association’s celebration of Diabetes Month in November and President of the BVI Diabetes Association Mr. Bennett Smith said he hopes the observance will introduce the youth to the idea of living healthier.  “Unhealthy lifestyles contribute to a prevalence of diabetes and it is our hope that the programme will introduce the younger people to the idea of living healthier and avoiding the onset of some of these diseases that in fact are associated with our increase in affluence,” he said.

Mr. Smith added, “These types of diseases are likely to get worse as we become more affluent unless we do what we are supposed to do by living a healthy lifestyle”.

The activities for the month will include an opening ceremony on Friday, November 7.  Additionally, the importance of a nutritious and balanced diet will be a feature on radio station ZBVI’s Almanac from November 3 to 7 and the topic healthy lifestyle will be promoted on a number of other local radio programmes throughout the month.

The Elmore Stoutt High School will observe the month through a number of health promoting activities involving both students and teachers in collaboration with the BVI Diabetes Association.  The Association will also observe World Diabetes Day on November 14 at the Palm Grove Park from 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. A Public Eye television programme on “Your Spiritual, Physical, and Mental Health” will air on Thursday, November 20 on Channel 52 at 8 p.m.  The month of activities will culminate with a closing ceremony at the Elmore Stoutt High School on Friday, November 28 at 10:30 a.m.

The first Health Month was observed in 2006 under the theme “A Healthy Lifestyle is a Choice”.  Project Lifestyle, which is currently being piloted in five schools, was developed by the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI) in Jamaica and first introduced in BVI schools in 1998.