More than 60 per cent of all primary schools in Westmoreland have been actively promoting healthy lifestyle practices and good nutritional habits among students under the Jamaica Moves in School initiative.
The programme, which was introduced in educational institutions in 2018, is geared at heightening awareness and creating increased opportunities for physical activities and healthy eating at the nation’s schools.
Speaking with JIS News, Parish Health Promotion and Education Officer at the Westmoreland Health Department, Gerald Miller, said a recent survey of 51 of the 54 primary schools in the parish indicated that 37 or 73 per cent of them engaged students in one hour of physical activity once per week; the same number have established water days; while 32 or 63 per cent have instituted fruit days.
Additionally, he said 35 or 69 per cent of schools have established a Jamaica Moves Club, while 39 or 76 per cent have created a non-communicable disease (NCD) register for students.
The health promotion and education officer said it is encouraging to see that the Jamaica Moves in Schools initiative has been well received by primary institutions in the parish.
“On the school health front, we have been making some inroads. Our officers have been working with the schools, and like I said, many of them have been making a concerted effort to see how they can reduce the number of days that the children eat fried chicken and fries and so on,” he told JIS News.
“So, we are getting that kind of positive response. It is not a perfect world, but I have seen the evidence of schools making that kind of effort,” he stressed.
Miller shared that the health department remains committed to encouraging schools to introduce healthy behaviour choices to students.
Already, the health department is working specially with six institutions under cohort one of the programme.
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“We want to continue, in the new year, to get more of our schools adopting healthier lifestyle choices, so we have some schools that we will be working with which would have been selected as the new cohort of the Jamaica Moves in Schools. We have seven of them that we are going to be working with going forward,” said Miller.
The new cohort of schools being targeted are Cornwall Mountain All-Age, Friendship Primary, Grange Hill High School, Savanna-la-Mar Primary, Sheffield All-Age, Little Bay Primary and Enfield Primary.
The Jamaica Moves in School initiative is one of the flagship programmes of the Health and Wellness Ministry to help tackle non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the country.
Under the initiative, schools are encouraged to establish a time window to engage students in physical activity for an hour per week, establish a Jamaica Moves Club, create an NCD register, institute water and fruit days, and facilitate the observation of National School Moves Day.
