LIVINGLIVING
"There are now 36
cities engaged in this
global network
to a broader range of communities.
This has led to the creation of a number
of health promotion ideas and events,
including Walking Cricket (where
participants receive coaching in cricket
skills and play games of walking cricket),
Healthy Goals (an education and physical
activity programme) and United Leicester
(a pilot health promotion programme in
primary schools).
A challenge
Obviously, COVID-19 has impacted on the
face-to-face delivery of these, with many
being paused in order to adapt delivery to
a new virtual world, but to date a lot has
been learned, shared and achieved.
Leicester has a large population
of people of South Asian descent, a
community that is already at a relatively
higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
Developing health interventions that
are culturally relevant and located
within communities has enabled local
organisations to engage with more at-risk
populations. Wanting to promote health
and wellbeing within Leicester's South
Asian communities, LDC brought together
Leicester City in the Community (the
community outreach arm of Leicester City
Football Club) and The Centre for BME
Health to engage this local population.
Barriers to engagement with South
Asian communities were identified
and included the location of activities,
perceptions of sports clubs and who they
work with, the importance of peer support
and misunderstandings about the nature
of physical activity (misperceived by some
people as being limited to exercise such
as gym workouts or sports). Based on
these insights, the Healthy Goals 12-
week education and physical activity
programme was developed. Education
sessions and facilitator- led conversations
with participants around lifestyle and diet
were designed to be culturally relevant
to them and delivered by the LDC, while
physical activities under the programme
have been led by Leicester City in the
Community. All-female sessions have
been run as part of the initiative in order
to empower women and give them the
opportunity to take better care of their
own health.
The Walking Cricket series of events
delivered by Leicestershire County Cricket
Club has been successful in attracting
older South Asian men to get more
active, but the programme has been open
to anyone who is keen to try out a new
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