The Friends of Diabetes Association, one of the health-promoting organizations under the Health Promotion Department of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Sharjah, has recently launched the 2nd phase of the annual campaign “Superhero”.

The Superhero Campaign is organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Sharjah Education Council, and with the support of the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

With the aim of raising students’ awareness about the methods of diabetes prevention and encouraging them to adopt healthy lifestyles and physical activity, as well as highlighting the rights of children with diabetes to live their normal life like their nondiabetic counterparts, the three-month phase is targeting the 20 public and private schools in Sharjah and the central region.

The Diabetes Friends Association pointed out the campaign’s events program is organized in safe and innovative manner, taking into account the full adherence to health and safety instructions and the precautionary measures taken to limit the spread of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) .

In order to educate students about diabetes, its causes, and methods of prevention and coexistence in innovative ways according to their inclinations, the events included the most beautiful student video contest about diabetes, a contest about the most beautiful theatrical text about diabetes and health, the superhero character design contest. Each school will nominate students to participate in the three competitions and send their work via internet. The selected works will then be submitted to the jury established to announce the winners through the association’s smart platforms.

A solid IT infrastructure

Her Excellency Khawla Al-Haj, Head of the Friends for Diabetes Association, expressed happiness with the interaction of the students with the campaign activities which are based on the video conferencing and distance learning technologies, explaining that the Association has made the best use of the IT infrastructure and the modern technology the UAE has developed over the years.

“This infrastructure allowed the Diabetes Friends to apply various work patterns to deliver its awareness messages and to pursue its campaigns and programs in accordance with any changes. Our association is keen to launch annual campaigns and initiatives aimed at raising health awareness among community members and providing diabetes patients from all age groups with the necessary support by equipping them with the essential knowledge and skills to make easy for them to safely coexist with diabetes,”

Comprehensive campaign

Al-Haj explained that the Superhero campaign doesn’t focus only on diabetes prevention but it also stimulates students to maintain a healthy lifestyle by avoiding sugar and harmful foods and eating a healthy diet including all the essential elements for their physical and mental growth to protect them from a lot of diseases and contribute to proper child-rearing.

“This year’s campaign outlines a bundle of positive outputs for the participating schools and the students alike, such as stimulating schools to be among the list of the effective schools in society, while for students to foster their positive role and to prepare them for spreading the campaign’s message among their counterparts, in addition to the impact of the campaign on the female nurses and coordinators in schools by providing them with the necessary support to seamlessly carry out the campaign program and highlight the role of the school nurse,” she concluded.