With a recent study showing that more than 60 per cent of the adult population in Dubai is overweight, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has drawn up a behaviour change plan in an effort to get residents to eat more healthily and take more exercise.

According to a report in Gulf News, the DHA’s new programme will allow people to collect points when they eat healthily or take exercise, which can be converted into a variety of rewards such as free gym membership or cinema tickets.

The scheme will be linked to Dubai’s new mandatory health insurance scheme and will be open to everyone. Residents will have an online account where their reward points will accumulate. Data from gyms, fitness apps and other technology will be used to measure participation and rewards.

The DHA’s director of health funding, Dr Haidar Al Yousuf, says: “For the first time in the country, the DHA is set to use a behaviour modification tool to encourage healthy eating patterns and motivate residents to exercise.

“We’re in the process of working out this scheme with our partners and, among other things, the rewards will include free access to specialised health professionals or services, healthy meal vouchers, free subscriptions to health magazines and so on.”

The programme is still being fine-tuned, but is expected to go live in March.