Tuesday Nov 19, 2024
Tuesday Nov 19, 2024
Friday, 20 September 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
With this year’s ‘World Conference on Drowning Prevention’ set to be held from 8-10 October in Durban, South Africa, Sri Lanka Life Saving, in collaboration with Life Saving Victoria and the High Commission for Australia in Sri Lanka, has organised an event announcement for its key stakeholders, on 26 September at the ORCHID meeting room of the BMICH from 9.00 a.m. to 11.30 a.m.
The Chief Guest at the event is the Australian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, David Holly, and the Guests of Honour are Public Administration, Disaster Management and Livestock Development Minister Ranjith Madduma Bandara and Telecommunication, Foreign Employment and Sports Minister Harin Fernando.
Key stakeholders and dignitaries representing the Ministry of Sports, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Disaster Management, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Defence have been invited.
The management team of Life Saving Victoria, the office of the Chief of Defence Staff, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB), Disaster Management Centre and the management team of Sri Lanka Life Saving will partner and organise the World Conference on Drowning Prevention 2021 event in Colombo.
This will be a proud moment for Sri Lanka since it will be the biggest UN event Sri Lanka is hosting under the injury prevention category, with over 800 people representing more than 60 countries set to attend the conference.
This achievement simply exemplifies the progress that Sri Lanka has made within the sphere of Drowning Prevention and Water Safety. After undergoing an extremely stringent selection process, the International Life Saving Federation granted permission to Sri Lanka Life Saving to stage the event from 8-10 October 2021 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB) greatly assisted the bid application and site inspection process which helped Sri Lanka secure the right to host the event. So far the only Asian nations to host the World Conference on Drowning Prevention have been Vietnam and Malaysia and the President of Sri Lanka Life Saving, Asanka Nanayakkara, will attend the 2019 conference in Durban, South Africa to officially accept the flag to host the event in 2021.
The ‘World Conference on Drowning Prevention’ is held once every two years to build an international platform to reduce drowning and drowning-related deaths in the world. Drowning is a leading cause of death in the world and annually the world loses about 360,000 lives that could easily be saved by creating awareness and building swimming ability within communities.
The International Life Saving Federation (ILS), along with the World Health Organization (WHO), organises the event. The last event was held in Vancouver, Canada in 2017.
