Dubai: The police will soon launch a programme to promote a healthy lifestyle among Dubai residents.

It is called "Take a Step for a Better Life" and is one way to encourage people to get off their couches and fight obesity.

Brigadier Mohammad Saeed Al Merri, Deputy Director of Dubai Police Community Service Department, said the programme will also encourage participation in various sports.

"We will provide information on the dangerous diseases that one may suffer due to lethargy and lack of exercise," he said.

The programme will run for whole year, Al Merri said.

He said there will be stands at shopping malls and public parks which will distribute brochures and doctors and nurses will carry out free checkups.

"There will be constant communication between participants and health experts during the year to enable them to qualify to walk 10,000 steps, which is eight kilometres or 100 minutes of walking, depending on the person, without any health problems," he said.

The police officer said UAE residents suffer from lack of exercise and heart attacks and deaths are due to this, he said. Studies show that 78 per cent of men and 86 per cent of women in the country do not engage in any sport.

He said 54 per cent of males, 77 per cent of females and 26 per cent of children suffer from obesity.

A pedometer will be provided for the participants in the programme. It calculates the steps taken by a person and measures the body activity to set individual goals for each participant.

He said the programme will be implemented in three phases, with 12 weeks in each phase.

The first phase will target Dubai Police employees as well as other society members.

The second phase will target government and private sector employees and the third phase will target traditional neighbourhoods.

In another development, the Police have called on the public to cooperate, especially regarding traffic during the Dubai Shopping Festival.

Major Hamad Bin Hussain, the Coordinator of the Traffic Committee for DSF 2007, said the committee placed the traffic policemen after studying the locations to reduce traffic congestion.

He called on the public to coordinate with police, as they know the easiest ways to get to the activities easily. He said the committee had placed policemen in important DSF locations such as the Global Village, Al Seef Street, Heritage Village and Carpet Oasis.

Major Bin Hussain called on the public to visit the activities as groups in one vehicle instead of one person using one vehicle to avoid traffic jams caused by the large number of people visiting the same location.

"The traffic movement during Eid Al Adha holidays was smooth despite the large numbers of people who visited various locations of the festival," he said.

Major Bin Hussain praised the public's cooperation and abiding by traffic rules which contributed in helping everyone get to their destinations on time.