President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has said the Government’s policy is to strengthen the role of sports and fitness in promoting healthy lifestyles and preventing lifestyle-related diseases among the Maldivian population.
Delivering his Presidential Statement at the opening of this year’s session of the Parliament, the President said disease prevention efforts should prioritise addressing lifestyle-related illnesses by encouraging physical fitness and healthy living.
“The first priority in implementing disease prevention policies should be to prevent lifestyle diseases and create physically healthy citizens,” the President said, adding that the Government views the development of the sports and fitness sectors as essential to achieving this goal.
President Muizzu said the Government completed 33 sports and fitness projects last year, in addition to finishing 59 projects that were left incomplete by the previous administration. In total, 92 projects in the sector have been completed so far.
He said a further 879 sports and fitness projects are currently underway across the country and assured that all of them will be completed and handed over within the next 12 months.
The President noted that sports facilities are being developed nationwide, rather than being concentrated only in the Greater Malé area. He said the Government has launched multiple initiatives to establish multipurpose sports complexes, outdoor gyms, and fitness and recreational centres in islands across the Maldives.