National Council for Child and Youth Welfare Secretary Asoka Weerasekera, Expolanka Holdings Assistant Manager CSR and Activation Sajeeth Illyas and the CSR Champions of Expolanka Holdings with the children
Expolanka CSR celebrated Universal Children’s Day 2015 with a free health camp and day filled with entertainment for 250 children, including differently abled children from five children’s homes administered by the National Council for Child and Youth Welfare, Sri Lanka.
Established by the United Nations (UN) in 1954, Universal Children’s Day aims to promote the welfare of children everywhere and to encourage understanding between children all over the world.
“If we want the country to inherit a healthy, well balanced future generation, we must focus on the wellbeing of today’s children. Healthcare is one of the core areas of our CSR approach. In this context, we decided to celebrate the Children’s Day with a health camp for children in need of such facilities. We chose to assist children residing in Children’s Homes specifically because we felt that they needed our help most,” commented Expolanka Holdings PLC Head of Marketing, Corporate Communications and CSR Paddy Weerasekera.
According to UNICEF statistics, ‘16,000 children die every day, mostly from preventable or treatable causes’. Preventive healthcare provides a feasible answer to this problem. There are many methods for prevention of disease which includes regular checkups, disease screening, identifying risk factors, increasing awareness regarding balanced lifestyles as well as adopting healthy food habits. In this view, the Children’s Day health camp facilitated general health checkups, blood glucose level checkups, BMI (Body Mass Index) calculations followed by necessary dietary advice. Following the health camp, the children enjoyed a delicious lunch, enjoyed entertainment acts, took part in games and received gifts of stationary to conclude a day filled with camaraderie and fun. “This year’s Universal Children’s Day activities organised by our CSR arm left us with full hearts and fond memories. It was heartwarming to see the children enjoy themselves,” Paddy Weerasekera added.
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