Have the world’s most active adults

According to a WHO study, Africans, Uganda and Mozambique at the top of the list,  get far more exercise than especially some Arab nations.A quarter of the world’s adults are doing too little exercise, putting them at risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, and some cancers – and there has been no improvement over the past 15 years.This is according to a global study conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) published in The Lancet Global Health journal this week, that looked at exercise rates in 2016 and compared them to 2001.Africa is world’s healthiest continent by far and Uganda then Mozambique world’s healthiest countries measured by how active adults are, finds study in Lancet medical journal. That to change as more Africans are able to drive cars not walk & have desk jobs https://t.co/koMnxPu2k2 pic.twitter.com/F1mXbmOqRg

— James Hall (@hallaboutafrica) September 16, 2018

Mozambicans and Ugandans doing fine

In four countries, more than half of adults did not get enough exercise in 2016: Kuwait (67%), American Samoa and Saudi Arabia (both 53%), and Iraq (52%). Kuwait and Samoa have some of the highest obesity rates in the world.In contrast, Mozambicans and Ugandans were the most likely to get enough exercise, with only 6% reporting less than the recommended exercise ­of at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity every week.

According to the survey, “country-specific, age-standardised prevalence of insufficient physical activity in 2016 ranged from 5·5% (4·0–7·6) in Uganda to 67·0% (58·6–74·3) in Kuwait”.

“In four countries, the prevalence of insufficient physical activity was more than 50% (Kuwait, American Samoa, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq), whereas the prevalence was lower than 10% in seven countries (Uganda, Mozambique, Lesotho, Tanzania, Niue, Vanuatu, and Togo),” it adds

“In 2016, around one in three women (32%) and one in four men (23%) worldwide were not reaching the recommended levels of physical activity to stay healthy,” according to the study.

The study, based on self-reported activity levels from 358 population-based surveys in 168 countries covering 1.9 million participants, noted that there had been no improvement in exercise rates since 2001.“Unlike other major global health risks, levels of insufficient physical activity are not falling worldwide, on average, and over a quarter of all adults are not reaching the recommended levels of physical activity for good health,” said the study’s lead author, the WHO’s Dr Regina Guthold.

China making great progress

Women were less active than men in all regions of the world, apart from east and southeast Asia.There were large differences in activity between women and men in many countries, such as Bangladesh (40% vs. 16%), India (44% vs. 25%), Iraq (65% vs. 40%), Philippines (49% vs. 30%), South Africa (47% vs. 29%), and the USA (48% vs. 32%).China has made the most progress in promoting physical activity, but in high income Western countries, there has been an increase of 5% in people doing insufficient activity.“Regions with increasing levels of insufficient physical activity are a major concern for public health and the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs),” says Guthold.Although a recent NCD policy survey showed that almost three quarters of countries report having a policy or action plan to tackle physical inactivity, few have been implemented to have national impact, according to the researchers.The study’s release comes ahead of the Third United Nations High Level Meeting on NCDs and their risk factors, including physical inactivity, being held on 27 September 2018 in New York. – Health-e News.

SA businessman kidnapped is now under arrest

A South African businessman, who was kidnapped in northern Mozambique in August, is currently detained, accused of involvement in attacks by armed groups in the region, his wife told Lusa.“He was detained on Sept. 11, the day after he was discharged [from hospital], and authorities say there are two witnesses who swear that he is involved in the armed attacks in Cabo Delgado,” said Francis Hanekon, the businessman’s wife.Lusa contacted the Mozambican police spokesman in Cabo Delgado, Augusto Guta, who said he had no information on the case, but promised to investigate.“The last information we had was that he was at Pemba Provincial Hospital. I do not confirm the information that he was detained,” the Mozambican police spokesman said.According to the South African businessman’s wife, Andre Hanekon, about 60, is being held at the third police station in Pemba (capital of the province of Cabo Delgado, on the northeast coast of Mozambique).

ALSO READ: SA man ‘kidnapped’ in Moz ‘doing well’, transferred to provincial hospital – report

“They let me in to change the wounds dressing, because he is not yet well, but they will not let me stay there for long,” Francis Hanekon reported.Andre Hanekon works since 2012 in the area of shipping in Palma, in the province of Cabo Delgado.On August 1, the businessman  was kidnapped at a hotel in Palma by a group of four people with Balaclavas and military uniforms, told Lusa at the time the director of the hotel undertaking where the kidnapping took place.According to his wife, the kidnapping occurred after rumours had been circulating on the businessman allegedly being the mastermind of the armed attacks that have been taking place in the area. Such allegations which Francis and local businesspeople say do not make sense.

Andre Hanekom owns the Marina in Palma, Mozambique and has lived in Mozambique for over 26 years

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The abduction was never clarified by the authorities. According to Mozambican authorities, Andre Hanekon was rescued by the Defence and Security Forces in the Moçímboa da Praia district,.Speaking to the press at the provincial hospital in Pemba, the businessman had said that. in addition to taking his money, cell phones and documents, the kidnappers took him to a forest and left him there.

ALSO READ: Mozambican authorities investigate kidnapping of South African businessman in “all of the province” of Cabo Delgado

Remote villages in the province of Cabo Delgado, located between 1,500 and 2,000 kilometres north of Maputo, have been plundered by unknown people since October 2017, causing an undetermined number of deaths and displaced persons.Groups attacking the villages have never made any claims or made their intentions known, but investigators suggest that violence is linked to trafficking networks of heroin, ivory, rubies and wood.The attacks come at a time when investments by natural gas oil companies in the region are moving forward, but have not yet entered the perimeter of the projects.

Mossuril bets on more agriculture

The Mossuril district in Nampula province has prepared just over 47,000 hectares of land where it expects to produce 274,000 tons of food in the present agricultural campaign.Speaking at the recent Field Day celebrations, district administrator Nerina John said that the area for the current agricultural season exceeded that of last year by 3,000 hectares, and production was expected to increase by 25,000 tons.The district of Mossuril has 18 public network and partner extension agents involved in the agricultural production chain, with technicians transferring technologies to producers, particularly in the family and associative sector, in order to increase production and productivity in their areas of culture. As a result of this technical assistance, a Naguema region producer had worked an area of four hectares and grown corn and peanuts which he was now harvesting. Meanwhile, in spite of the irregular rainfall after the devastation of the district in February, district director Mossuril Economic Activities Alfredo Nampuio said that the situation would not impede the fulfilment of production targets in the present agricultural season, as it had affected only 500 hectares. He said that his sector carried out immediate action to correct losses in the affected area, with the planting of second season crops such as beans, sesame and vegetables, all with encouraging results. In addition to agricultural production for household income, Mossuril district has potential in the fishing industry, where it has registered just over 50 artisanal fishermen supplying markets in Nampula and Nacala.

It also has a salt and lime industry, products exploited both individually and by collectives.

Extraction of lime generates yields.

Extraction of limestone in the Namathinthe community, 15 kilometres from Mossuril district headquarters, is generating wealth for a group of artisan producers.

Indeed, many of the operators have already made home improvements and have acquired motorcycles and other goods as a result of the commercialisation of their product, which is considered of high quality.According to the president of the Association of Cal Explorers, Ali Amisse, an association of little more than a dozen members, the opening of the mine has already generated employment for 24 people in the community, of whom 17 are women who work on an occasional basis and, in one form or another, also benefit from the yields of the deposit.Producers, who have been practising their craft since 1993 using picks and hoes, process the ore in an open-air kiln in order to achieve higher production volumes, currently 35 tonnes over a three-and-a-half month period.Ali Amisse, the president of the association, who pioneered the activity in Namathinthe, singles out the unsustainable price charged by hauliers to transport the lime from the extraction zone to the warehouses four kilometres away as one of his main difficulties.“Our lime is of great quality, because it is produced in a process different from the usual one, and we have a guaranteed market in the Island of Mozambique that absorbs all our production for building rehabilitation, but we have a problem with transportation because, for each hundred 50-kilograms sacks, they charge us 1,000 meticais for a four-kilometre trip,” Amisse complains.