President Peter Pellegrini met representatives and expert partners of the 'Healthier Schools' initiative, which brings the topics of health, prevention and first aid to schools, at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday.
Among those present were children who had reacted appropriately in critical situations and helped to save the lives of their loved ones. They shared their experiences and explained how they had put knowledge gained at school into practice in those situations.
The meeting also included a presentation of the seventh year of the 'Healthier Schools' initiative, Slovakia's largest educational project focusing on health, which its founders want to extend to all schools. They stressed that the programme is free of charge and has involved around 105,000 children.
Education under the 'Healthier Schools' initiative focuses primarily on practical ways of handling health-related situations. Children learn to recognise the symptoms of a stroke or epileptic seizure, call for help and respond in emergencies. They also learn about risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, the importance of healthy habits and how to better understand people with health problems.
Pellegrini praised the idea behind the project, pointing out that cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in Slovakia, while also highlighting the importance of prevention.
"Because treatment is the stage at which we're merely dealing with a consequence. But prevention is the best investment we can make in our health-care system," stressed Pellegrini.
The President also highlighted the inclusion aspect of the project, as children learn to accept and welcome among their peers those suffering from a disease. He praised the fact that young people can learn how to help and respond when someone is, for instance, having an epileptic seizure.
"Society suffers from various problems, not only in terms of health, but also hatred, bullying and other issues that young people encounter. I can imagine that for schools, it's challenging to incorporate all these issues within the time allocated for education. This makes it all the more important to thank teachers for embracing this issue, approaching it responsibly and spreading this preventive initiative among as many people as possible," said Pellegrini.
At the same time, he expressed hope that the project will continue for many years and that financial resources will be found to keep it running, as he considers it to be beneficial.
Source: TASR
