For the first time, Auburn University will be participating in World Health Day by providing health assessments, activities and instructions to bring awareness and promote healthy living in the Auburn community.
The event will be held from 8-11 a.m. on Saturday, April 7, which is the World Health Organization’s 70th anniversary. The WHO has had a themed celebration for each of the past seven years.
Organizers of the event hope to attract people who will be on campus for A-Day as the event will lead into the spring football game. The event is free to the public, and it will be held at the School of Nursing's greenspace.
“This year’s theme is, ‘Be Active: regular exercise and physical activity,’” said Robin Gosdin Farrell, associate clinical professor in the School of Nursing. “It’s about how being physically active can help your overall health as well as decreasing risk for long-term diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer.”
According to the WHO, physical inactivity is one of the leading risk factors for death worldwide. Adults who do not meet the global guidelines on physical activity have a higher risk of all-cause mortality compared with those who do.
Four of the six stations will have information on how to incorporate exercise into a busy life at the individual, family, community and work levels.
The stations will include games and activities such as twister yoga, weightlifting, volleyball, badminton and Zumba.
A 2015 Congressional Budget Office report projected that healthcare spending will grow by 54 percent by 2040. It stated the national debt will reach an unsustainable point by this time largely due to healthcare costs.
Another station will provide health assessments including blood pressure, BMI and age-related risks. The last station will provide healthy snacks and guidance on food choice and nutrition.
Farrell said her husband participated in the inaugural-themed celebration of World Health Day in 2011, which was held in Washington D.C. She loved the idea and wanted to implement a similar event in Auburn.
Farrell brought the idea to campus, and the organization, implementation and awareness of the event was a group effort among multiple schools.
Other organizers of the event include Claire Thompson, assistant clinical professor in School of Nursing; Kristin Roberts, administrator of outreach programs for the School of Kinesiology; Erin Neighbors, president of the Auburn Student Dietetic Association, and Anna Crochet, an intern in the School of Nursing.
“We have such great resource here on campus,” Farrell said. “It’s great just to be able to pull in the different disciplines that we have available to us as resources, and it’s a great way for the students from those different disciplines to be involved and learn.”
Physical inactivity is estimated to account for between 6 and 10 percent of ischemic heart disease, stroke, diabetes and breast and colon cancers.
The WHO’s constitution states that the objective is the attainment by all people to the highest possible level of health. The WHO said that health is a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living.
The event received funding from the BCBS Caring Foundation, which was created by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama in 1990.
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