FIFA Training for Physical Education Teachers Involved in "FIFA 11 for Health"

ST. GEORGE, GRENADA, July 7, 2015: Several Physical Education teachers from various primary schools in Grenada are targeted for implementation of the pilot phase of the FIFA 11 for Health programme in Grenada.

They met for further discussion about the programme, on June 29, 2015, following the June 17th launch. The programme is part of a preventative health care strategy, piloted in sixteen schools, which will be targeting young children.

Ms. Hermoine Baptiste, Health and Family Life Officer at the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development said, with regard to reversing the issues with chronic health problems, “If we have to fix the situation, it always best to start from the very young ones. 

It’s easy to change their mindset, attitudes and give greater awareness to any programme coming on stream and, so, we would want to work with the 11-year olds, that’s the Grade six in our primary schools.”

The programme is based on eleven simple, but powerful messages, aimed at reducing the level of communicable and non-communicable health diseases, affecting Grenadians.

Dr. Francis Martin, Director of Primary Health Care, at the Ministry of Health and Social Security said, “The FIFA for Health program and the School Health Programme didn’t just drop from the sky. 

There was a reason why this programme had to come together and the reason is because in the global system the mortality rate or the death from chronic disease is about 60 percent. In other words, sixty percent of all the deaths in the world is from chronic disease.”

According to Dr. Francis Martin, of that 60 percent, eighty percent of the deaths are from developing nations like Grenada, with cancer being the number one killer in Grenada. Martin says the FIFA 11 for Health program is timely and will work alongside the Ministry of Health’s school health program.

Allan James, GFA Representative, said, “The programme within the schools will be 90 minutes. A football match is 90 minutes, so you have 45 minutes in the classroom and 45 minutes on the field of play.”

The programme will be executed as a collaborative effort between the Ministries of Youth, Sports and Religious Affairs; Education and Human Resource Development and Health and Social Security and the Grenada Football Association.