PRESS RELEASE
Special Olympics Nigeria (SO Nigeria) through partnership with Vitol Foundation organized events in Lagos and Edo state in commemoration of the 2022 World Environment Day.
Over 900 beneficiaries comprising of people with intellectual disabilities (athletes), people without intellectual disabilities (unified partners), their family members, and other community members benefitted from both events.
Beneficiaries had the opportunity to access and receive health services which included physiotherapy screening (Funfitness), hearing screening (healthy hearing), voluntary testing (malaria and HIV) and counselling services, administration of malaria medication, and the distribution of mosquito nets and insecticides.
Health forums which included talks, discussions, and practical demonstrations were also facilitated. This enabled delivery of information talks on various topics such as Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), disease prevention and sustainable environment management.
The discussion and demonstration enabled effective delivery of WASH methodologies, and Integrated Vector Management (IVM) sessions.
The event activities were implemented through the support of SO Nigeria partners. These partners include medical professionals from Taforehab and Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), who volunteered their time to provide physiotherapy and audiology screening respectively to the beneficiaries.
Also, the Society for Support and Welfare for the Underprivileged, a medical outreach group, conducted the voluntary counselling and testing (malaria and HIV screening) and IVM sessions.
Word Environment Day (WED) celebrated on 5th June every year is the United Nations (UN) principal tool to inspire awareness and action for the protection and sustenance of the environment.
First celebrated in 1973, the ‘World Environment Day’ has become a major platform that the UN uses to raise awareness on such environmental issues as global warming, marine pollution, overpopulation, sustainable development, and wildlife crime.
Over 143 countries participate yearly in celebrating WED and has used it as a platform to advocate environmental causes.
Special Olympics Nigeria (SO Nigeria) is an affiliate of Special Olympics International (SOI) non-government organization the organizes sports training, athletics competition and health programmes for people with intellectual disability.
SO Nigeria’s mission is to provide year round sports training and athletics competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities with a vision to transform communities by inspiring people through the joy of sports to open their minds, accept, include, and value people with intellectual disability and therefore unite people in a shared belief of a more inclusive world.
The Vitol Foundation is a charitable grant established in 2006. The Foundation supports organizations and ideas that help children and families living in deprivation to escape the cycle of poverty and attain their potential in life.
The Foundation supports equitable, replicable, and scalable solutions across sectors such as education, enterprise and livelihood, health, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and humanitarian relief. Vitol Foundation has supported initiatives globally and independently of business activities. In 2020, the Foundation supported 112 projects in 48 countries
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