Poised to increase asthma awareness campaign and to encourage fitness in children, the Elias Nelson Oyedokun Foundation will inaugurate its first of its kind asthma awareness swimming competition for young swimmers, which will take place on Saturday 13 of June at Grange School 2, Harold Shodipo Crescent, GRA Ikeja Lagos.
According to the Foundation’s Release, the motive of the competition is to make asthma care and management falls among leading health care issues in the country, in order for people living with the condition to get better management.
Main participants in the contest will be young swimmers between the ages of 7-16, who will compete to win medals in the Asthma awareness swimming competition.
The Release further explained the choice of swimming as the exercise for asthma patients, stating that swimming can increase lung volume, improve asthmatics general fitness and help them develop good breathing techniques, as postulated by Wang Jeng-Shing from the Taipei Medical University.
Jeng-Shing who conducted a study in 1990 to evaluate the effects of exercise on 30 asthmatic children between the ages of 7 to 12, found that children who participated in a six-week swimming class, in addition to taking their regular asthma medications, showed significant improvement in their symptoms, hospitalizations, school absenteeism and emergency room visits.
Speaking on the essence of the competition, Mrs. Ilaka, CEO, Elias Nelson Oyedokun Foundation said the contest will be established in honour of her son, Elias, whom she lost to unexpected asthmatic crisis, which took his life in November 2011.” I went through a lot of pain and I wouldn’t want another child to die prematurely as a result of asthma. That’s why it’s important to create awareness about how to prevent and control asthma in children and adults.’ Elias was a very creative young man and dreamt of becoming an international entertainer, possibly being the first Nigerian to win an Oscar.”..
