In Vila Real, the fight against obesity begins in the classroom where technicians diagnose students in the first cycle of basic education and, through handball, promote physical activity and reduce risky behaviors.
The vice-president of the Vila Real Chamber, Alexandre Favaios, said today that the intervention plan for childhood obesity through handball already covers around 85% of the 1,815 students who currently attend the first cycle of basic education in the public and private network of Vila Real. municipality of Vila Real.
Adriano Tavares, from the Vila Real Handball Association, explained that the program “aims to try to diagnose students with overweight and obesity problems in schools”.
“Our technicians are applying a testing protocol that is ‘pre FITescola’ and the idea is, through Handebol 4Kids, to increase the number of weekly physical activity stimuli for children and, with that, train students for adoption of healthy habits”, he stated.
Adriano Tavares added that, through this program, the aim is to intervene early and, consequently, alleviate a problem that will have “aggravated during the covid-19 pandemic”.
The program brings together synergies with the objective of collecting anthropometric data, eating habits and sports practice that make it possible to assess the physical condition of children attending the first cycle of basic education in public and private schools, as well as promoting and raising awareness among children and, above all, , guardians to the importance of healthy lifestyle habits, namely practicing regular physical activity.
“In this way, we can create a set of synergies in what will be the assessment, that is, the diagnosis of the nutritional status of our students, and based on this assessment, we can understand what is the best referral and the type of prescription that is desirable, whether in which is the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, through the practice of sport, or through the complement of other actions that may be necessary in terms of medical monitoring, with the support of health units”, added Alexandre Favaios.
The vice president highlighted that the program is available to all children who want to participate.
“We noticed that the level of sedentary lifestyle is higher in our population, and also among children. We realize that new technologies often encourage less healthy habits. Today, we realize that schools are also able to respond in a fun and interesting way,” she highlighted.
Thus, he added, healthier lifestyles are being promoted and the need to resort to health care is reduced.
“It is work done in schools because we realize that training is fundamental for us to change our lifestyle”, highlighted Alexandre Favaios.
Armando Félix, director of the Diogo Cão School Group, said that the technicians enter the classroom and work together with the teachers and with the physical activity that is part of the first cycle curriculum.
He also highlighted that the project is effectively promoting the health and well-being of students.
In addition to the municipality, the project involves the Local Health Unit of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (ULSTMAD), the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), the Portuguese Handball Federation, Association of Handball in Vila Real, the Diogo Cão School Group, the Morgado de Mateus School Group, the Colégio João Paulo II in Vila Real, the Nuclisol Jean Piaget in Vila Real and the Colégio Moderno São José.
