{"id":27223,"date":"2026-01-16T13:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T13:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/27223\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T13:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T13:53:09","slug":"ministry-of-health-directs-mandatory-medical-checkup-before-engaging-in-tree-hugging-exercise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/27223\/","title":{"rendered":"Ministry of Health Directs Mandatory Medical Checkup Before Engaging in Tree-Hugging Exercise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">The government, through the Ministry of Health, has issued a public warning cautioning Kenyans against participating in prolonged tree hugging without a prior medical checkup.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">This follows a rising trend of Kenyans participating in the challenge<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenyans.co.ke\/news\/118965-jubilation-environmentalist-truphena-muthoni-breaks-72-hour-tree-hugging-world-record\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> inspired by a 72-hour tree-hugging initiative by Truphena Muthoni<\/a> that has gained widespread attention.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Truphena completed the tree-hugging on December 11 last year, surpassing her previous 48-hour record, a challenge that helped her gain national recognition.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The practice has since escalated in different parts of the country for various reasons, such as raising cancer awareness and promoting environmental awareness.<\/p>\n<p>Truphena Muthoni hugging a tree in her attempt to break the Guinness World Record on December 8, 2025<\/p>\n<p>Kenyans.co.ke<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">For instance, in Limuru, Kiambu County, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenyans.co.ke\/news\/119636-muranga-pastor-collapses-tree-hugging-marathon\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">young man attempted the tree-hugging challenge<\/a> in a bid to raise school fees for his Grade 10 brother, while in Meru, another hugged a tree to protest rampant banditry.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Similarly, in Western Kenya, a young woman was rushed to Bugoma Hospital shortly after completing her 74-hour tree-hugging challenge.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">With the challenge now gaining momentum across the country, particularly among the youth, the Ministry of Health has warned that prolonged tree hugging poses serious health risks.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Speaking on Thursday, January 15, Health Principal Secretary, Mary Muthoni, noted that the tree-hugging challenge was a strenuous exercise that requires a mandatory medical checkup before engaging in.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;I have seen people who are really in the mood for hugging trees. People are hugging trees; that is a strenuous exercise. Before doing the challenge, make sure you go for a check-up,&#8221; said the PS.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The PS revealed that the Ministry had recorded several cases of people collapsing and being rushed to the hospital after engaging in prolonged tree hugging without medical assessment.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are not stopping anyone from participating in the tree-hugging challenge, but you must first undergo a medical checkup to ensure that you are medically fit,&#8221; the PS reiterated.<\/p>\n<p>She also reiterated the need for proper physical preparation and gradual training before undertaking such an exercise, further stating that advocacy should not come at the cost of one&#8217;s personal health.<\/p>\n<p>A photo of Principal Secretary for Public Health and Professional Standards Mary Muthoni speaking to the media during the launch of the emergency response to combat Kala-azar disease on Friday, March 28, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Photo<\/p>\n<p>Mary Muthoni<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The government, through the Ministry of Health, has issued a public warning cautioning Kenyans against participating in prolonged&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[80],"class_list":{"0":"post-27223","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kenya","8":"tag-kenya"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}