Pharmacy Daily | SA embraces healthy living

THE South Australian Government has launched a new five-year Eat Well Be Active Strategy, designed to bolster healthy eating and physical activity levels “Nearly 60 percent of our adult population is overweight or obese and we have to do more to encourage people to make the choices now that will prevent chronic disease and even premature death in the future,” said SA Health and Ageing Minister, John Hill. “The Strategy calls for immediate actions not just from government, but the whole community,” Hill added. A key target set under the Strategy aims to increase the proportion of South Australian adults and children at a healthy weight by 5 percentage points by 2017 (from a baseline of 42 percent in 2006). Another key target includes increasing the proportion of South Australians participating in sport and recreation at least once a week to 50 percent by 2020. “To achieve these targets, the Strategy aims to ensure that the places where we live, learn, work, play, eat and shop make it easy for us to be active and eat a healthy diet,” Hill said. Strategy initiatives include creating pedestrian and cyclefriendly streets, providing community gardens, promoting breastfeeding and aiming for clear front of pack food labelling. “Our vision for the future is a society where the healthy choice is the easy choice, people are more active and individuals are supported in making healthier choices,” Hill said.

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