The 5^th edition of the “Health and Tourism” campaign, organized by the Health Promotion Department at the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Sharjah, is witnessing a lot of enthusiasm on social networking sites from individuals and supporting institutions participating in the campaign. The annual campaign, which is held under the slogan ‘Umbrella’ and will take place until the end of the month, aims to increase awareness on the concept and challenges of heat exhaustion and ways of preventing it.

The campaign’s official hashtags #healthandtourism18 and #umbrella have received significant attention from social media users, especially on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Social Media users were keen to be a part of the campaign’s awareness efforts, which aim to integrate both the fields of healthcare and tourism, in order to educate the public on a variety of healthy practices and promote various tourism locations in Sharjah at the same time.

Throughout the campaign, the Health Promotion department has been keen to promote and enhance the status and reputation of both Sharjah and the UAE in the fields of healthcare and safety. The department aims to achieve this by organizing workshops, distributing umbrellas, and spreading health information and practices using social media platforms, in addition to organizing competitions that witnessed that participation of a large number of social media users.

Iman Rashid Saif, Director of the Health Promotion Department at the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Sharjah, said, “Since its launch four years ago, the health and tourism campaign has achieved success by encouraging and promoting the adoption of a healthy lifestyle, and raising the awareness of individuals on healthy habits and practices, in addition to encouraging them to visit tourism sites in Sharjah. The campaign is considered to be the first online campaign in the world that links both healthcare and tourism.”

Saif stressed that the participation of government agencies and the positive feedback and involvement of their employees and their patrons has enabled the campaign to reach a larger audience. She added that this participation has also enabled the campaign to have a significant presence on social media platforms, where hundreds of thousands of social media users from inside and outside the country have taken part in the campaign and contributed in achieving it goals.

During the past 4 years, the Health and Tourism campaign has succeeded in playing an active role in encouraging healthy daily practices, in addition to highlighting various tourist and cultural sites in Sharjah, which was done through activities and events that were hosted at these sites. The campaign has also signed a partnership agreement with the “World Walking” institution to include various tourist locations as milestones in its Sharjah walking route, which acts as a walking guide for lovers of walking in the emirate.