TEHRAN –The second phase of the campaign focusing on promoting a healthy diet commenced today.

The first phase of the campaign started in November 2023. Aiming to reduce deaths caused by non-communicable diseases, the campaign with the theme of "earlier awareness, better care" ended on January 20. 

The main objective of the campaign was to provide free health care for diabetic and hypertensive patients in the framework of the family physician program and to create an electronic health file for patients.

Since diabetes and high blood pressure as the main causes of non-communicable diseases and are directly affected by one’s diet, the second phase of the national health campaign focuses on healthy diets.

A total of 45,556,830 people, 72 percent of the target population, took part in the first phase of the national health campaign aiming to be screened for high blood pressure and diabetes, Fars news agency quoted Farshid Hosseini, an official with the ministry of health, as saying.

Out of the screened people, 22 percent that is 10 million were identified with probable hypertension, he added.

These people do not need to take medicine; they can simply prevent high blood pressure and its severe consequences by observing and improving their diet, reducing salt consumption, and working out, Hosseini added.

He went on to say that people diagnosed with high blood pressure and diabetes in this survey are 10 years and 5 years younger respectively than those in the past.

The identified patients will be checked every month or every three months by healthcare workers and doctors. Within the first 3 to 6 weeks, their treatment is non-pharmaceutical, then medicines will be prescribed if needed, Hosseini added.

Part of the second phase of the national campaign will provide nutritional counseling to patients identified in the national health campaign with (probable) diabetes and high blood pressure, and the other part focuses on training in a healthy diet, such as avoiding the consumption of fatty, salty, sweet, and fast.

Salt is the subject of the first week of the campaign, from January 21 to 27, with the theme of ‘Everyone’s choice: little but refined iodized salt’.

Dairy is the subject and theme of the second week, from January 28 to February 4, with the theme of ‘From childhood to old age, consume healthy dairy products.’

National health campaign

Nowadays, health is one of the most essential human needs. Before the coronavirus pandemic, people may not have realized its importance, but this disease showed us how precious health is, Health Minister Bahram Einollahi said at a ceremony to unveil the Campaign.

“Maybe everyone thinks that our job is treatment, but it is not true. Our main duty is to prevent diseases and promote health.”

Emphasizing the importance of improving health literacy, Einollahi said, “The level of literacy in the society has increased, and we expect this level to improve in the field of health as well.

Also, we hope to manage having an electronic health file for every Iranian with their national identification code to record the history of illnesses in their family, their lifestyle, etc. so that their diseases and their reasons can be traced easily.”

MT/MG