WHO Lao staff answered the call to be part of WHO’s global initiative “Walk the Talk: challenge that started on 23 May 2018. This is the third year WHO is organizing this 100 days 10,000 steps per day global challenge.
More than 500 WHO staff participated in the programme last year and cumulatively they took over 646 million steps and lost over 240 kg. This year, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros has set an ambitious goal of recording over 1 billion steps collectively.
The participants form teams of seven and they embark on a 100-day journey towards better health. Sixty per cent of participants last year reported feeling more productive and less stress; they eat right and sleep better, showing an overall improvement in physical and psychological well-being.
One of the challenges participants often faced is the lack of companionship so this program was designed as a team project meant to be fun and interactive, and the team worked together to encourage and motivate each other and fellow colleagues to be physically active.
The first Lao WHO team
with Douangkeo (left) as team leader, Viengthong, Mone, Silvia, Pern and Tui
Each participant received
a pedometer watch to calculate their footsteps daily
Tui thinks that the pedometer watch is the best part of the whole challenge, as these watches are connected to an app which shows the records of steps taken each day by all participants. Tui said “It reminds me to stay active and encourages us to keep making more steps. In the end, exercising become my habit and help me make changes to my lifestyle,”
Tui is the captain of the WHO football
team and he often organised friendly soccer matches with other UN and local football teams
Since the challenge started, Tui has lost about 2 kilograms. He feels the achievements by his teammates in the App’s record serves as a good reminder to push him to achieve a better record. The teammates share their experiences often, and suggestion on how to achieve better weight loss results, For example, weight can be lost more quickly by running or other physical sport activities rather than walking to get the steps up."
Silvia is more conscious with increasing physical activity and sees it as a way to de-stress
For another participant Silvia, who already led an active lifestyle, she does it differently with dancing. Silvia said “I love to dance and on days when I feel very tired, I will put some Latin music and dance for an hour. After that I feel really happy and less-stressed.” Silvia also enjoys taking walks along the Mekong River.
Douangkeo feels that teamwork is important in this challenge.
“Douangkeo as the team leader said “If someone does not exercise or felt left behind, the team’s average steps will decrease. I will encourage my teammates to walk together during lunch as a group, or to share experiences or activities we did on the weekend so that people get ideas what to do to meet the steps target in a fun and interactive way while spending time with our families.”