Campaign for a healthier NMI continues with Walk

The CNMI Council on Physical Fitness and Sports’ campaign to promote healthy lifestyles in the Commonwealth continues with its Mass Walk on Rota and Tinian next month.

The event on Rota will be held on Oct. 7-8, while the Tinian’s walk will be held on Oct. 15, coinciding with the 2nd Annual Kantan Isla Concert, which is slated for Oct. 15-17 at the Kammer Pavilion on Tinian.

“On behalf of the council, I would like to encourage the general public, the parents to bring their children to participate, and also the teachers and faculties of schools on Tinian, Rota, and Saipan to participate in the Mass Walk,” said Chamorro and Carolinian Language Policy Commission executive director Candido Taman, whose division heads the concert. “We really want to emphasize the importance and significance of physical fitness and we want to instill this [in] our children.”

The first Mass Walk was held on Saipan on May 22, 2004, and drew about 500 participants, including council members, several legislators and department directors, government and private sector employees, students, school officials, parents, and senior citizens.

According to the Saipan Mayor’s Office, a council executive meeting was held sometime last week to determine the dates of the upcoming walks.

The council was established in December 2003 and consists of Gov. Juan N. Babauta, Rota Mayor Benjamin T. Manglona, Tinian Mayor Francisco M. Borja, Northern Island Mayor Valentin I. Taisakan, and Youth Congress Speaker Alvin C. Fejeran. For the past months, members had several meetings to further organize the council and attract more members.

The council’s goals include improving the health status of the CNMI; promoting expansion of physical education programs in both public and private schools; reducing incidence of disease resulting from lack of physical fitness and nutrition; encouraging better coordination between government and private sectors in the promotion of physical fitness of their employees; and promoting inter-island participation in physical fitness activities.

Earlier, Babauta elaborated on the overall goal, which the Council aims to accomplish.

“Health is the overall goal. The overall effort is to combat the escalating health fare and lift the burden from taxpayers and also doctors and nurses,” he said.

The governor said the council was formed to address the increasing health struggles in the CNMI, especially since the cost of health care has steadily been escalating.

“You can have more and more financial services, but it still would not be enough to deliver health care,” he said. “Providing activities—such as the Walk—that promote a healthy lifestyle is a measure that will assist with the prevention of various diseases.”