Abu Dhabi, 15 November 2022:  Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre (ADPHC) has revealed its ‘One Billion Steps Challenge’ exceeded its very ambitious target with more than 8,000 individuals taking part in the initiative during the six weeks. 

 

In collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Prevention Society, Department of Community Development, Abu Dhabi Sports, Department of Culture and Tourism and fitness app STEPPI, the Challenge attracted over 8,000 participants from the UAE community and abroad. Together, a total of 1,017,329,987 steps were recorded, covering 622,313 km – the equivalent of walking almost 14 times around the entire world while 83,440,256 calories were burned.

It also recorded figures that were more than the average daily steps by STEPPI users with 9,670 steps being taken per user every day on average, compared to 6,494 outside the Challenge. It also saw people being more active with users spending 50 minutes on average daily compared to 42 minutes.

 

His Excellency Matar Al Nuaimi, Director General of Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre, said: “Achieving the target of one billion steps in just six weeks is an incredible accomplishment and I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who took part in this challenge. Initiatives like this is fundamental in raising awareness on the importance of physical activity and the positive impact it can have on your wellbeing and we could not be prouder of how successful it went. He added: “Adults and children from all walks of life truly embraced the opportunity of doing some form of exercise and together with the support of people around the world, this achievement exemplifies how active our communities are in the UAE. We hope this challenge can inspire more people to be active going forward as the country continues to step up its efforts to contribute to a healthier world and to fill full our vision toward a healthy and safe society.”

 

The Challenge, which began on 15th September, was among the initiatives launched by ADPHC for the International Society for Physical Activity and Heath (ISPAH) Congress, which it hosted and took place between 23rd to 26th October. People from the UAE communities were joined by local, regional and international Congress visitors including together academics, practitioners, thought leaders and policy-makers for the Challenge.

 

It aimed to encourage individuals to collectively walk one billion steps by the time the world’s largest physical activity and health congress in the world finished, enabling them to be more active. It was also part of ADPHC’s on-going efforts to promote physical activity, and fully aligned with the Government’s drive to foster a healthier lifestyle.