The ceremony took place in Odemira, at the Intermunicipal Assembly of the association which promotes local health policies in line with the World Health Organisation guidelines.Monchique's joining the network is part of the work already undetaken by the council for the benefit of its population in the social, physical and mental well-being areas and its promotion of healthy lifestyles, in parallel with dealing with environmental issues.
The Portuguese Network of Healthy Municipalities started in 1997 and is based on the promotion of the local strategies for a healthy lifestyle.
The mayor commented, "Monchique has a great desire to join this network to strengthen and expand its work with the local population. This is the reason that has motivated us always to put people first – a strategy that is in the centre of all the policies that we have implemented to promote the quality of life in the area."
According to mayor Rui André, "networking and partnership with the other municipalities in this network is a valuable tool we will use to develop policies to promote the health and wellbeing in the population of Monchique."
Member number 48, Monchique, joins Algarve councils Portimão, Lagoa, Loulé and Castro Marim in the 'Rede Portuguesa de Municípios Saudáveis.'
Whether or not the 25th edition of Mochique’s iconic Sausages Fair on the 3rd and 4th of March comes under the banner of 'engaging in a healthy lifestyle', is debatable.
For March 3rd to 4th, the council is hosting the usual varied programmer of stalls and events, linked (sic) to the spicy topic of regional sausages and other ways to be creative with dead animals.
The inevitable pork roast will have the most ardent vegetarian straining at the leash, as will corn with beans, feijoada with sausages, cheeks of black pork cooked with sausage, beans with rice and nuts cooked with grain, cabbage á la Monchique, roast kid with plums, honey pudding, carob jam and gallons of medronho - much of it produced legally in an effort to reduce the double-vision that affects many local drivers.
In addition to the food, there will be handicrafts sweets, bread and other products plus evening entertainment with Miguel Costa and the Rouxinol Faduncho concert on March 3 and TVI's "Somos Portugal" programme on the 4th.
