Celebration of World Heart Day and Closing Ceremony of ‘Salt Literacy Campaign’ in Chandigarh schools

 ‘Eat Less Salt’ Campaign was jointly launched by The George Institute for Global Health, New Delhi, Chandigarh Commission for Child Rights (CCPCR) and School of Public Health, Postgraduate Institute for Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) during National Nutrition Week from 1st to 7th September, 2017. The campaign was held in 8 government schools of Chandigarh comprising of various awareness as well as brainstorming and interactive activities on the issue of appropriate salt consumption.

The closing ceremony of the campaign was held on 29th September, 2017 in Govt. Model Sr. Secondary School, Sector-10 Chandigarh to mark the World Heart Day with the theme “healthy environment for a healthy heart” and to give away prizes to the students who participated in the salt literacy campaign. Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Dean (Academics), PGIMER was the Guest of Honour on the occasion. He gave a brief talk on the theme of the day oriented towards keeping the heart healthy with healthy food and physical activity. He also added that by the gradual reduction of salt in our diet, we can adapt our taste buds to the new flavour easily.

A brief overview of the activities performed during the one-week campaign was given by Dr. Manmeet Kaur, Additional Professor (Health Promotion). She thanked all the schools for their active participation.

Students of Govt. Model High School, Sector-30, Chandigarh presented a play on ‘Ill effects of excessive salt consumption’. Few students also recited the self-written poems and songs on ‘salt’. It was followed by the experience sharing from the teachers of the schools.

The function was concluded by the prize distribution ceremony to appreciate the participation of the students and schools in the various competitions such as poster competition, theatre and debate competitions, etc. followed by the vote of thanks by Dr. Kannan Krishnaswamy from George Institute for Global Health, New Delhi.