The Ugandan government has instructed all civil servants to spend two hours a week doing physical exercise to keep them fit and healthy.

The directive was shared in a letter to government agencies from the head of the public service, Lucy Nakyobe, who said the sessions would “help save the lives of staff and reduce the disease burden”.

The Government of Uganda also tweeted that the initiative will “tame the rising burden of lifestyle disease” in the country.

It comes two years after a national health survey showed obesity rates in the country had risen from 17% to 26% in the last 17 years.

This is not the first time Uganda’s government has introduced initiatives to encourage exercise.

In 2018, Uganda brought in the national day for physical activity which sees sporting activities held across the country.

Dr Charles Oyoo Akiya, the commissioner for non-communicable disease prevention, told local media that the health ministry had already been running exercise sessions for their staff, and they wanted to see it adopted across all departments.

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