Minister of Health Kemal Memişoğlu attended the "Healthy Child Festival" held in Sincan Park within the scope of Public Health Week.
Speaking here, Memişoğlu stated that the voice of the children in the field was the "voice of heaven" and expressed his gratitude to those who contributed to the festival.
Reminding that the area where Sincan Park is located was a swamp in the past, but today it has turned into an area where festivals can be held thanks to the efforts of the municipality, Memişoğlu said that there is a training and research hospital as well as a Healthy Life Center in Sincan.
Stating that they aim to make Sincan Training and Research Hospital a more effective and advanced health facility, Memişoğlu emphasized that under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Türkiye has become one of the best countries in the world in terms of health services and treatment opportunities in the last 25 years.
Stating that they attach importance to protecting and improving the health of the society as well as health services, Memişoğlu noted that under the leadership of President Erdoğan, they act with the understanding of "health system that protects, develops and produces" with the goal of "Healthy Türkiye Century" and that they carry out studies to increase health literacy and health awareness in the society.
Stating that they had started the "Healthy Child, Healthy Future" program in schools before and brought it to the squares in the form of a festival for the first time, Memişoğlu said, "Children are our future. If children learn the health culture at this age, get on the ambulance, see their uncle from UMKE, learn at this age how much dental cleaning, movement affects health, and how important nutrition is, there will be a health culture in the future and a healthy society." he said.
Stating that children were informed about health at 7 stands within the scope of the festival, Memişoğlu said that they aimed to allow children to see ambulances, UMKE vehicles and healthcare workers closely, not only in bad times, but also in moments when they had fun and were happy, and to leave a mark on their lives.
"The most important cause of cancer is smoking"
Stating that, as the Ministry of Health, they made demands from the society regarding health, Memişoğlu asked citizens to take good care of their bodies and themselves before getting sick.
Stating that Türkiye is not at the desired level regarding smoking and addiction, Memişoğlu pointed out that one in every 3 people smokes.
Pointing out the effects of smoking on health, Memişoğlu said, "Today, the most important cause of lung cancer, larynx cancer and esophagus cancer is smoking. Today, the most important cause of heart attack is smoking. The most important cause of paralysis, which we call stroke, is smoking. What is the second biggest reason? Weight, inactivity. These are the problems we need to solve. I hope we will solve these together, together with the society." he said.
Emphasizing that children should be better than previous generations in terms of culture, knowledge and abilities, Memişoğlu underlined that this is important for Türkiye to reach a more advanced level.
Memişoğlu said, "There are child development specialists, sociologists, psychologists and dietitians for children in 357 Healthy Life Centers across Turkey. We need to prepare our children for the future, just like Turkey." he said.
Children became "health ambassadors"
After his speech, Memişoğlu called the children in the festival area to the front of the stage and declared them "health ambassadors".
Asking the children to first warn the people around them who smoke, Memişoğlu said, "To smokers, no matter who they are, your mother, your father, your relative, say, 'We are now health ambassadors. As health ambassadors, smoking is harmful to your health, please stop it.' You will say, promise? he asked.
When the children answered "Promise", Memişoğlu also took a promise from the children about healthy living.
Asking children to wash their hands and faces every morning, consume eggs and milk, and brush their teeth every day, Memişoğlu advised them to spend time on computers and phones at certain hours and move more.
Memişoğlu also asked the children to prepare for the future by studying daily and eating vegetables.
Minister Memişoğlu visited the stations
Kenan Volkan Demirel, General Manager of Health Promotion, stated that the aim of the festival is to better explain health education and health literacy to children.
Stating that the festival will last 2 days, Demirel stated that information will be given to children at the established stations.
Sincan Mayor Murat Ercan also gave information about his activities in the district.
After his speech, Minister Memişoğlu visited the 112 Emergency Health Services, Family Medicine, Oral and Dental Health, Personal Hygiene, UMKE, Healthy Nutrition and Physical Activity Stations, which were prepared for the children in the festival area to get to know the health services and healthy life habits more closely, and chatted with the children.
