Healthy Living Alliance (HEALA) is an Alliance of non-governmental organizations with a mission to improve the health of an increasingly obese South Africa. Our goal is to empower all those who live in South Africa to make healthy food and lifestyle choices to prevent non-communicable diseases.

Vision

HEALA works to build a healthy food environment by:

  • Empowering all those who live in South Africa to make healthy food and lifestyle choices to prevent non-communicable diseases.
  • Holding government accountable for meeting its constitutional mandate to develop and implement policies to promote sustainable access to healthy food, clean water and a healthy environment (Sections 24 and 27 of the Bill of Rights)
  • Combatting how the dominance of Big Food companies distorts the production, distribution, marketing, and availability of food.
  • Holding the ‘Big Food and Beverage’ companies accountable for the effects of their unhealthy products.

Objectives

HEALA works to build a healthy food environment by:

  • Empowering all those who live in South Africa to make healthy food and lifestyle choices to prevent non-communicable diseases.
  • Holding government accountable for meeting its constitutional mandate to develop and implement policies to promote sustainable access to healthy food, clean water and a healthy environment (Sections 24 and 27 of the Bill of Rights)
  • Combatting how the dominance of Big Food companies distorts the production, distribution, marketing, and availability of food.
  • Holding the ‘Big Food and Beverage’ companies accountable for the effects of their unhealthy products.

Manifesto For Healthy Living Alliance

South Africa has the highest overweight and obesity rate in sub-Saharan Africa, with up to 70% of women and a third of men being classified as overweight or obese.

Some 40% of women in our country are obese (body mass index greater than 30 kg/m2). One in four girls and one in five boys between the ages of 2 and 14 years are overweight or obese.

Obesity is associated with a number of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, joint pain and certain cancers.

Improving diets to reduce NCDs in South Africa requires a sustained public health effort that addresses environmental factors and the conditions in which people live and make choices.

 

In order to protect and promote the health people living in South Africa, HEALA has set a list of demands:

Download Manifesto

Our Members