NEWS

During this event, the medical professionals from the region were introduced to current trends in awareness, prevention and care for lung health with a vision, the role of medical professionals in children's and school health during a pandemic and the training platform under the PREVENT project. Every year, on May 19, the European Day Against Obesity is celebrated. According to the WHO data, in most European countries between 30 and 80% of people are overweight. On average, 20% of children are overweight, 1/4 of whom are obese, which means that 3 million children are obese and 14 million are overweight. In Bulgaria, 2 million of the adult population is overweight, and 1 million of them are obese. Among children, 200,000 are overweight and 67,000 of them are obese.

Maria Dinkova, senior expert of the Health and Social Affairs Department of the Municipality of Burgas and Dr. Stella Siveva, a school doctor, also took part in the training activities. During the meeting, an innovative practice was presented, which the government in the UK has been applying for several years - prescribing physical activity and sports by health professionals as a tool to prevent and improve the lifestyle of patients with various diseases. Inspired by this practice, the PREVENT project team has created an online training platform for health and sports professionals, which aims to introduce them to the benefits of exercise for health, prevention and recovery from chronic diseases through physical activity and directing citizens to safe and effective participation in organized physical activity programs.
The PREVENT project collected data on the health status of citizens in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Spain and the United Kingdom and created an online training platform and 4 manuals for different groups of people with chronic diseases to promote safe and effective exercise to improve health and quality of life.

The PREVENT project is co-financed by the Erasmus + Sport program of the European Union.