Malls across Bahrain are backing a new campaign aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles among shoppers.

So far, eight shopping centres have signed up for the "Health Friendly Shopping Malls" project being spearheaded by the Health Ministry, according to its health promotion directorate director Dr Amal Al Jowder, reported the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

"Shopping malls attract large number of families from Bahrain and the wider region," she said.

"This means we can target a large number of people through this campaign.

"There will be regular walkathons held in these malls and containers for recycling items placed near the food courts or near the exits.

"In addition, health inspectors and mall security will be out in force to ensure no one is smoking inside and immediately report violations on the hotline 66399755."

The pilot project is designed to encourage walkathons, promote healthy food options at restaurants and get more people recycling, Dr Al Jowder said at the project's launch yesterday in the ministry's Juffair headquarters.

"Everyone can be part of this campaign from shoppers and employees to tenants, who can conduct different exercises at these malls and stay healthy in a safe environment," she said.

"We want mall visitors to have healthy food options available and to see things such as the promoting of juices over fizzy drinks and salads over burgers.

"The plan is to cover all malls and hypermarkets in Bahrain as part of this campaign and next year we will honour these establishments for supporting us."

City Centre Bahrain, Bahrain Mall, Country Mall, Ramli Mall, Al A'ali Complex, Al Reef Mall (Sultan Centre), Enma Mall and Lulu Hypermarket Hidd are all on board, Dr Al Jowder said, although some malls allegedly "refused" to back the campaign on the grounds it could affect visitor numbers.

Meanwhile, officials yesterday also released the results of a survey into the City Walkers programme, which was launched by City Centre Bahrain in 2010.

A total of 50 programme participants from October last year were covered by the survey, which showed the positive effects of the programme including 86 per cent of respondents who performed physical activity regularly, 56 per cent who said it helped them cope with stress, 54 per cent who lost weight and 28 per cent who found it helped maintain their cholesterol level. - TradeArabia News Service