All people over the age of 60 living in the country will be informed about the Ministry of Health’s drowning prevention campaign by sending SMS and mail through HICC. This was announced by Health Minister And. Georgiades at a press conference he held today with the Safe Water Sports organization at the Ministry of Health.
The main message of the campaign is “Drowning prevention is a public health issue” and its main objective is to inform, raise awareness and educate citizens on the prevention of drowning in Greece ahead of the summer season.
“Of the 378 people who perish in Greek seas due to drowning, 80% are over 60 years old. Even if we manage to save one person with this campaign, it will be a gain for us,” the health minister said, adding: “We will send messages accompanied by the spot through HICC to all people over 60 years of age to raise awareness now at the beginning of the summer swimming season.”
The joint action of the political leadership of the Ministry of Health and the specialized organization Safe Water Sports was presented by Mr. Georgiades and Panagiotis Paschalakis, president of the Safe Water Sports Organization, while the president of the EODY, Professor of Pulmonology-Entative Therapy Theodoros Vassilakopoulos, participated in the interview. Among the interventions are the reinforcement of busy beaches with lifeguards and posting of all necessary instructions for safe swimming.
We want a “safe sea for people over 60 years old, who are the most vulnerable group, as the data on drownings in our country show,” Paschalakis said, adding that “our goal is to reverse this unpleasant statistical picture and help older people to respect the safety rules at sea.”
The special video that has been prepared will be shown in health facilities, medical clinics and pharmacies in order to raise awareness of safe swimming for all of us and especially for people over 60 years old with or without health problems.
“The swimming skills of these people are not the best possible as most of these people learned to swim empirically. Where the emphasis is currently being placed is on the younger generations to learn swimming properly,” he said, adding that “for children, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, we are making a significant effort to ensure that the school swimming programme is extended in a universal manner to as many schools as possible across the country.”
