DOHA: Children are at great risk in the face of a worldwide obesity crisis, fuelled by fast food, poor health practices and a barrage of media messages, a leading expert on children’s media told an audience at Northwestern University in Qatar on Tuesday. Dr Ellen Wartella (pictured), director of Northwestern University’s Center on Media and Human Development in Evanston, Illinois, and the chair of an international task force crafting policies to combat childhood obesity, previewed a forthcoming global study which will advocate solutions to a growing global problem with deep implications for the US and Qatar.
“New evidence shows that childhood obesity is a societal problem more than it is an individual problem – and needs societal solutions,” she said. The best intelligence on the subject has come from a chorus of voices from medicine and public health, social policy and media, she said.
High school students in Doha, Qatar with an interest in filmmaking can send submissions on sustainable development, human rights or the environment to a film festival. The festival, with the stated aim of "creating a platform for student film-making talent and artistic vision," will be hosted by Qatar Model United Nations in collaboration with Northwestern University in Qatar in March 2011.
Every submission is required to include a completed entry form and a poster to promote the film. Prizes will be awarded for cinematography, editing, picture, story and sound. The Best Picture winner will receive QR10,000 while other winners will receive prizes and trophies.
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