The "Health Promoting Schools Conference" launched on Wednesday, will benefit students immensely, says Vice President Faisal Naseem.

VP Naseem said this while speaking at the ceremony held to officially inaugurate the conference, on Wednesday.

As such, taking the podium at the event the vice president noted that the conference comes at the most opportune time and will prove to be immensely beneficial for students.

Stressing on the spiraling number of non-communicable diseases in the Maldives that have surfaced in recent years, VP Naseem shed light on the importance of ensuring healthy lifestyles and promoting healthy habits in children at a young age.

He went on to urge parents and guardians to ensure their children are provided nutritious food and do regular exercise.

Health Promoting Schools Conference, the first of its kinds in the Maldives, was organized by the Ministry of Education and the World Health Organization (WHO), in association with Thaajuddeen School.

The conference which will be carried out from August 25 – 27, seeks to promote the implementation of the ministry’s ‘Health Promoting Schools’ Initiative.

Revolving around the theme “sustain (good practices), embrace (innovation) and accelerate (progress)", provides a platform to share the knowledge and experiences of participating schools in ensuring health-promoting environments in all schools

The conference will see 136 participants from 17 schools in the Greater Malé Region in attendance, alongside representatives from 79 schools from atolls joining as virtual observers.

It will also see the participation of teachers and management of schools alongside students and parents.

Minister of Education, Dr. Aishath Ali, Minister of Health Ahmed Naseem and the WHO representative to Maldives, Dr. Nazneen Anwar attended the ceremony.