Expressnews
Chennai, 14 November 2023: In an effort to raise awareness on road safety and protect children from road accidents, Thiru P.K. Sekar Babu, Honourable Minister for Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments, participated in the last day of the “Helmets For Kids” campaign today. The campaign is a special initiative by the Apollo Shine Foundation, a campus health non-profit dedicated to the health and safety of children in schools and colleges. Harshad Reddy, Director, Apollo Shine Foundation and Dr Upendra Kinjawadekar, National President – Indian Academy of Pediatrics were present at the event, organized as part of Children’s day celebrations.
The Foundation launched the campaign on World Trauma Day(October 17th) in light of the rise in the number of road accidents and the evolving discourse on road safety and trauma-related injuries. The campaign, centred on the slogan‘No Excuse OK, Wear A Helmet’, calls upon children to become aware of the protection a helmet can offer and to always wear a helmet when riding a two-wheeler. As part of this effort, a team from the Apollo Shine Foundation visited a host of schools, gifted students with child helmets and held educative sessions to raise awareness around the cause. Poster-making contests were also organized to encourage students to get creative about themes such as road safety, protection from trauma-related head injuries and the importance of wearing a helmet.
Harshad Reddy, Director, Apollo Shine Foundation, said,“The Apollo Shine Foundation is pleased to launch the Helmets For Kids initiative to promote road safety among children. Children are our future – this awareness drive is an attempt to encourage children to become more sensitized and adopt simple yet significant life-saving measures as part of their commute. Wearing a helmet can reduce the risk of head injury by 85% – we have attempted to bring together a range of stakeholders such as parents, teachers, students, physicians and government to deliver this message and create an impact that can be felt at the individual and community levels.”
The Apollo Shine Foundation also partnered with the Indian Academy of Pediatrics and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the event. The pack was inked to promote awareness about lifestyle diseases and encourage healthy choices among children. Dr Indira Jayakumar, Pediatric Intensivist and Medical Director of the Foundation stated that inculcating healthy habits and making healthy choices at a young, impressionable age can greatly help in combating Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and foster a generation that not only excels academically but also leads fulfilling and healthy lives.
