Manchester City and their regional healthcare partner Healthpoint have joined forces to encourage students to be active and eat well as part of a new ‘Healthy Lifestyle’ programme.

The initiative will see City Football Schools coaches and Healthpoint physicians visit schools throughout Abu Dhabi to educate children about making better choices around food and physical activity.

“It’s very important as a footballer to eat healthily and fuel the body for every game,” Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany said. “Living an active lifestyle, along with eating well, prepares your body both physically and mentally.

“Regular physical activity is an important part of the equation for getting healthy and then staying healthy. Fuelling yourself on the right foods is the second part of that equation.”

The ‘Healthy Lifestyle’ programme will visit 15 schools, meeting around 1,000 youngsters over the next five months. It has been designed in alignment with government health initiatives.

GETTING UAE KIDS ACTIVE

According to the latest data from the World Obesity Federation, the United Arab Emirates will have 15% of its young people under the age of 20 considered obese by 2025. The World Health Organisation expects this to include 448,000 school aged children.

Dr Mai Ahmed Al Jaber, Acting Medical Director and Head of Public Health at Healthpoint, said: “Having MCFC’s stars on board with the health and fitness initiative is extremely important.

“What makes this programme unique and fun to children is that the footballers from Manchester City Football Club share their personal experiences and their daily lifestyle. We hope that children are motivated by following one of their football stars.

“The programme has different aspects – diet, exercise, sleep and mental well-being. By having a focus on each of those and delivering information in a way that children can absorb easily it can help to address childhood obesity.”