Student teachers join forces in fight against child obesity

Zayed University friends write books for children on some of the UAE's most pressing health problems.

ABU DHABI // When Nahla al Sayed, 21, started teacher training in local Abu Dhabi schools, she and two of her classmates from Zayed University (ZU) were astonished to see children as young as five who were already significantly overweight. "I've seen children in kindergarten who suffer from obesity and some have diabetes," Ms al Sayed said. "Children in the UAE are suffering from many diseases they shouldn't be suffering from."

So Ms al Sayed, along with her classmates Ameera al Hemairi and Haleema Abdullah, decided something had to be done to teach children and families about the dangers of obesity and the importance of healthy eating and physical exercise. Schools, Ms al Sayed said, are not doing enough to address the problem. "There are some schools that don't even have physical education in their curriculum. We're trying to bring this out so that people know it's a problem," she said.

"Even some of the schools that do have physical activity don't take it seriously. If a teacher is running late on a subject they will cancel the class, if there is an event they'll cancel the class." The young women decided to continue a project started by another group of ZU students. In 2008, Asma al Menhaili, now a 26-year-old teacher and two other students, created a series of children's health books in Arabic and English.

At the time, Ms al Menhaili said, there wasn't much information for children about health in Arabic. The students chose three subjects they felt most families struggle with - cavities, fevers, and chickenpox. "Even in English I don't see a lot of books about health for kids," Ms al Menhaili said. Asmaa al Blouchi, who also helped to develop the first series of "Health Tales", said: "We would like an attractive way to teach children about their bodies, about their teeth."

"Kids at this age like a lot of sweets and fast food. That's why we wrote about teeth," said Ms al Menhaili. Picking up on their efforts, Ms al Sayed and her classmates have written a further three books which focus on some of the UAE's most pressing health problems. Among the themes are obesity, diabetes and exercise. The students presented their project yesterday at a "health awareness" event they organised at Zayed University.

"We are trying to enforce good habits," Ms al Sayed said, adding there is not enough discussion about health problems like obesity and diabetes in the UAE. "There is a huge lack of physical activity among males and females," she said. [e-mail]