The battle to win against asthma will never end. In the Philippines, over 10 million cases have been documented of people with asthma and it remains the most common chronic childhood disease. Children who suffer from asthma are oftentimes over-protected by parents and their activities are curtailed so as not to trigger an asthma episode.
I grew up with asthma in the family. My own asthma was not very bad but my sister’s was worse. All my kids also had childhood asthma. An aunt on my husband’s side died from an asthma attack. Asthma cannot be taken lightly as it can be fatal. But the good news is that it can be controlled.
Last year, GSK went on an all-out campaign to fight asthma.
Read my post on how one can still lead a great life even with asthma.
Aside from their brand ambassadors, Arnel Pineda of Journey and actress Kim Chiu, GSK now has a new brand ambassador — Olympic figure skater Michael Christian Martinez.
I had been following Michael’s journey all the way to the Olympics and knew that he indeed was an asthmatic. In past interviews, I remember Michael saying that the cold skating rink actually helped improve his health. His mom, who would accompany him to all his trainings and competition, was fully supportive of his sport and told Michael that she would rather “spend the money on skating than in the hospital”.
The Search for Winners Against Asthma
This year, GSK is taking the fight against asthma further by launching the Win Against Asthma Today advocacy campaign aimed at increasing awareness and amplifying efforts to spread information about the risks of asthma and how it can be controlled.
This time, they are looking for young asthmatic achievers who can show that one can live and pursue one’s passions in life despite having asthma.
Here’s Michael talking about the search.
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| Who are eligible to join? |
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| Here’s how to join |
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| Each of the 10 selected winners get these prizes |
The Search for Winners Against Asthma will run from February until May 2015. Tours of different schools and drugstore outlets will also be made to spread the advocacy and invite more people to join the campaign.
Take note of the dates below
Deadline for submission of entries: March 31, 2015
Screening of all entries submitted: First week of April 2015
Announcement of top 20 finalists: May 5, 2015 (World Asthma Day)
Announcement and Awarding of Top 10 winners: 3rd week of May 2015
The Search for Winners Against Asthma 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.
Do you know anyone who is an asthmatic and yet has achieved many things? Could it be you too? Here’s your chance to be recognized and to show that asthma is not as debilitating as it is thought to be.