Uganda, March 26 -- The government has ordered ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to institute weekly physical exercise sessions for their staff to tame the rising burden of lifestyle diseases.

This information is contained in a March 13 letter that Ms Lucy Nakyobe Mbonye, the head of Public Service and Secretary to Cabinet, wrote to permanent secretaries and executive directors.

She wrote this about six days after the release of the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey report which indicated a rise in obesity from 17 percent to 26 percent in the last 17 years.

Ms Nakyobe, in the letter, said the orders followed a letter she received from the Permanent Secretary of the Health Ministry in February, "regarding the physical acti...