A child can drown in as little as 5cm of water in less than two minutes, a senior official has said, highlighting the need to spread awareness about water-related accidents and precautionary measures.
Informative sessions on water safety around homes, pools and beaches drew huge crowds to the Kulluna for Health and Safety stand at the second Qatar International Boat Show (QIBS). The event was held at Mourjan Marinas in Lusail City from November 11 to 15.
In the last two years, Kulluna has launched several campaigns that have addressed essential health and safety issues within the community. Tens of thousands of people living and working in Qatar have been positively impacted through these campaigns. Kulluna is a national, health and safety public awareness campaign founded by Hamad Medical Corporation’s Hamad International Training Centre (HITC) with ConocoPhillips Qatar as the founding sponsor.
Last year, Kulluna launched a water safety campaign to tackle the issue of drowning in Qatar, especially among children. The campaign highlights the importance of maintaining adult supervision around children in order to curb such
preventable deaths.
Dr Khalid Abdulnoor Saifeldeen, director of HITC, said: “Water-related accidents are unfortunate as they can be easily avoided. In less than two minutes, a child can drown in as little as 5cm of water. Spreading awareness about such facts and precautionary measures is the first step towards bringing the community together to create an accident-free environment.”
Gary Sykes, president of ConocoPhillips Qatar, said: “As founding sponsor of Kulluna, we are pleased to be taking part in the Qatar International Boat Show for the second consecutive year and increase community awareness about water safety.
“This campaign falls within our strategic pillars of health and safety and we are proud to be a part of all community and major events spreading awareness and equipping people with the right information and tools to keep Qatar’s children and families safe and healthy.”
Kulluna’s stand at the QIBS also provided information on how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation in case of drowning, as the first few moments after the accident are the most crucial and chances of survival increase with quick resuscitation.
In addition, Kulluna provided free health checkups for all visitors as part of its healthy heart campaign. The checkup included tests for blood cholesterol, blood sugar, height, weight, blood pressure and body mass index.