DHA begins ‘Water is Life’ campaign

The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has begun a campaign across its hospitals and primary healthcare centres to educate people about the importance of consuming sufficient amounts of water per day. Essa Al Maidoor, director-general of the DHA, who inaugurated the campaign at Rashid Hospital, said, "The campaign is in line with the DHA's vision to promote health education amongst community members. Water plays an important role in carrying out essential body functions; it is a cheap, simple and an excellent alternative to other drinks, which contain sugars and unnecessary calories. Yet, we find that people do not consume enough water and our aim is to raise awareness so that once people are empowered with the right health information they can make healthy choices.” Dr Wafa Ayesh, director of clinical nutrition at DHA, said, "Almost 80 per cent of patients we see do not drink sufficient water and many of them are surprised to see how dehydrated they are after we show them their body analysis results. We want to educate our community to drink sufficient amounts of water per day because water is needed for essential body functions.” Alya Al Shamsi, clinical dietician at Rashid Hospital, said, "Studies have shown that drinking sufficient water can help prevent high blood sugar but of course this has to be followed by a healthy diet as well. Diet, exercise and drinking enough water per day go hand-in-hand, there are no short cuts.” Maitha Al Owais, clinical dietician at Dubai Hospital, added that water is essential for weight loss. "In a nutshell, there is no good enough reason for a person not to consume sufficient water. So drink up, eat right, exercise and enjoy the benefits of a healthy life.”