Special Olympics Malawi Healthy Athletes ® Health Promotion project.
This project's parent organization is Special Olympics Malawi
It operates in Malawi
It uses Adapted sports
Entered the Sport for Health Award
More about Special Olympics Malawi Healthy Athletes ® Health Promotion project.
With sports at the core, Special Olympics is a leader in the field of intellectual disability, making incredible strides in the areas of health, education, family support, research and policy change in over 180 countries worldwide. Individuals who compete in Special Olympics develop improved physical fitness and motor skills and greater self confidence.
They exhibit courage and enthusiasm and build lasting friendships. These life skills enhance their ability to live normal productive lives. For people with intellectual disabilities, Special Olympics can be the only place where they have an opportunity to participate in their communities and develop belief in themselves.
Many live lives of neglect and isolation, hidden away or socially excluded from full participation in schools or society. More specifically Special Olympics Malawi Health Promotion projects seeks to use sport as a method of mobilizing our athletes together with their family members and community to address issues of health, hygiene, HIV/AIDS and other communicable disease, this enables participants to learn about steps they can take to improve their health and protect themselves.
Malawi has had a good number of sport and other programmes addressing health concerns but in most cases people with intellectual disabilities are shunned due to their level of understanding. This is the reason why Special Olympics Malawi has put such an emphasis on health projects to ensure that our athletes have the same access to adequate health information as any other person in the society.