This year ELF gave more grants than ever to organisations around the world to promote lung health. We typically only award five grants in the spring, but this year, thanks to a grant from the Forum of International Respiratory Societies, we doubled this. We then had an additional round of grants awarded in September, with thanks to Clean Air Fund. These Clean Air Fund grants were intended for activities that promote clean air and help support better clean air policies. Air pollution has a direct impact on lung health and by better informing the public, patients and healthcare professionals of the risk we hoped to create more clean air advocates.
In total, ELF awarded 18 grants in 2023. These supported activities in 16 countries, reaching thousands of people. Below, we have spotlighted some of these grant recipients. You can find reports on this year’s grant recipients, as well as all those of previous years, on our Healthy Lungs for Life event reports page.
We plan on launching next year’s grants in February, so be sure to sign up to our mailing list and follow us on social media to ensure that you get the chance to apply and receive funding for your Healthy Lungs for Life project.
Thank you to APYLAV for running their Clean Air for Blue Skies event. As part of their commitment, they trained 20 students representing 2 secondary schools on the need for clean air for lung health, as well as running a successful advocacy event. The Minister of Public Health attended as well as the Minister of Communication with both ministries committing to build the growing momentum from this year’s event.
The event also had global support with WHO inviting the organisation as a speaker during the launch of the OpenWHO online course on Air Pollution and Health for health workers on 5 September.
A big thank you to the Association of Lung and Allergy patients in Slovenia who ran an event on world COPD Day in a shopping centre, as well as an online campaign, to raise awareness of the impact of air pollution on lung health.
Thank you to the Fondation du Souffle who ran a Respirathlon in Paris, to bring awareness to the need for clean air for good lung health. The 4th edition of the Urban Trail of the Fondation du Souffle included:
