Public Health Ministry promotes physical exercise to prevent NCDs

BANGKOK, Sept 12 (TNA) – The Public Health Ministry urges people of all ages to increase their physical activities to prevent overweight and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), accounting for 71 per cent of deaths among Thai people. Health Department director-general Wachira Pengchan said that despite exercise trends, one third of Thai people still have low physical activity levels. Alarmingly, they have sedentary behaviors such as high smart phone and computer use and watching TV for about 14 hours per day excluding sleeping. He said the low physical activities contribute to obesity, which is linked to the NCDs like heart diseases, coronary heart diseases, diabetes and some types of cancers. The promotion of regular exercises will help reduce the number of NCDs patients by 11,129 cases per year and save the costs of medical care and health service as much as 5.9 billion baht. Under the campaign, physical activities will be promoted in all aged groups at schools, workplaces and community health service centers. Small children should be given limited time for watching TV and playing smart phones. (TNA)