By Ts’oloane Mohlomi
MASERU – The World Health Organisation (WHO) Africa Region, in commemoration of the global body’s 75th Anniversary recently launched a monthly fun walk in Maseru.
The fun walk which the Organization’s local branch WHO Lesotho, says is intended on promoting and encouraging Basotho to lead a healthier life through participation in physical activities like regular exercise and sports, is scheduled to take place every last Friday of the month, this year going forward.
Speaking moments prior the maiden walk, WHO representative to Lesotho, Dr Richard Banda, said it was evident that a vast number of individuals around the continent led busy lifestyles and didn’t take enough time out to look after their bodies. He said good health was essential and instrumental for an overall good life, and emphasized that a healthy individual’s body stood a good chance to easily fighting off diseases as opposed to an unhealthy one – this is mostly proven to be true because the healthier you are the less the risk.
“For all those present today, I humbly would like to applaud you as this is very important and will be beneficial for your well being in the long run, but let’s not forget that exercising is essential and important for the health of the whole country and continent. This is just the beginning, but we hope in the future you are still going to join us when partaking in other physical activities – this even though we are quite aware you can still do some of the exercises on your own,” he said.
This first walk which had an approximate number of 30 participants covered a distance of about 1km on a 21m2 radius. Commencing from the W.H.O Lesotho offices, the walk, proceeded eastwards along the Mpilo Boulevard, taking a sharp turn just before the Ha-Hoohlo industrial intersection, going around the Chinese Embassy at arrival centre, before heading back to the starting point just after the Maseru Golf Course’s main entrance.
Revellers carrying placards were spotted with jubilations on their faces as they endured what most regarded as a downtime activity giving them a much needed break from their busy schedules.
Dr Banda also encouraged the nation to encourage their friends and families to take part in regular exercise as well.
In observing the W.H.O’s 75th anniversary – after the organisation’s formation on the 7th of April 1948, W.H.O has adopted the theme “Health for all’ for the year 2023, as they hope for an inclusive global health ecosystem, where people from all walks of life, regardless of their social status, religious conviction or their sexual orientation are afforded an equal right of accessing good health care.
The right to proper healthcare is one which has lately been enshrined in the various constitutions in most countries around the world.
In the background of the devastating covid 19 pandemic, which wreaked havoc across the world killing at least 3millions alone in 2020 according to the W.H.O the organization indeed endured one of its toughest challenges in later years, but nonetheless overcame the constraints as it had always done in the past. The difficulty in accessing vaccines for the African countries is what proved to be difficult for the African continent during the height of the pandemic.
