The walking routes and speeds they have outlined are not likely to do that — although they will allow plenty of time for window shopping along the way.

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At the Hyatt Plaza mall, the designated route (it happens to go by every shop) is 1,200 steps long and should burn 70 calories. The recommended duration is 12 minutes, rather closer to an amble than a power walk.

The sponsors of the effort are part of the Aspire Zone Foundation, a governmental organization that, among other things, is promoting professional sports in Qatar and is involved in preparations for the 2022 World Cup. FIFA, the world soccer governing body, stunned the world when it awarded the games to Qatar, since it is a summer event. The prospect of staging world-class soccer in bone-melting heat prompted two proposals still under discussion: changing the World Cup to winter, or air-conditioning all of Qatar’s dozen or so giant stadiums.

Officials associated with Aspire and the Step Into Health program were not available for comment, despite repeated requests.

Obesity is a touchy subject in the emirate. Data from the International Association for the Study of Obesity shows that Qatar has the highest obesity rates in the Mideast, and worse rates are mostly found only in a few South Pacific countries. Some 34 percent of Qatar’s men and 45 percent of its women are obese, defined as a body mass index of more than 30.

Those figures, however, only begin to tell the tale. They are based on the emirate’s total population of about 1.9 million, but most of those are migrant workers. Qatari citizens number only about 250,000. Since most of the migrant workers are construction and other manual laborers, obesity rates among citizens are likely to be far higher than overall figures suggest.

The mall-walking kickoff two weeks ago was pronounced a big success by the government-controlled press, with some 1,000 people showing up to take part — encouraged by handouts of pedometers (free to anyone who registers for Step Into Health), and free raffles of iPhones, laptops and other Qatari-size baubles.