ASTHMA is a debilitating disease that affects a lot of people. The young ones especially are prone to school absences, emergency visits and hospitalizations because of their condition.
Just to show how serious asthma is, here are the results of one study: ” 53% of asthma patients regularly use rescue medication at least once per day to cope with their symptoms. In Asia Pacific, which includes the Philippines, activity limitation caused by asthma was considerable. A mean of 44.7% of respondents reported that normal physical activity was compromised, and 37.9% believed that their choice of job or career was limited. A total of 52.7% of respondents said that sports and recreation were affected, and 37.6% believed their lifestyle was restricted. Almost 50% reported sleep disturbances.”
That is why it is laudable to know that some notable achievers like actress Kim Chiu, musical frontman Arnel Pineda and champion figure skater Michael Christian Martinez all suffered from asthma in their life but somehow managed to overcome the situation.
In the case of Martinez, he summoned all his energies to overcome the negative despite suffering from asthmatic bronchitis as early as when he was two months old.
He recalls being in the hospital frequently and says the cold rink actually helped improve his health. “Year after year my health keeps improving, so my mother fully supported me to continue skating saying it’s better to spend the money on skating than in the hospital.”
Taking the cue from Martinez, Kim Chiu and Arnel Pineda, pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has launched the Search for Winners Against Asthma 2015 to recognize 10 young asthmatic achievers from different walks of life. Simply put, this is a nationwide campaign for young asthmatic achievers aged 30 years and below who are outstanding in their respective fields despite having asthma.
The Search for Winners Against Asthma will run from February until May 2015 and will be touring different schools and drugstores to spread the advocacy and invite more people to join the campaign.
The deadline for submission of entries is on March 31, 2015. All entries will be screened during the first week of April. As World Asthma Day is celebrated on May 5, the top 20 finalists will be announced and will be immediately followed by online voting. The top 10 Winners Against Asthma will be announced and awarded by the 3rd week of May 2015.
This advocacy campaign is supported by the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP), Philippine Academy of Family Physicians (PAFP), Philippine Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (PSAAI), Huawei and Folded & Hung.
For more information please visit http://www.facebook.com/winagainstasthma
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