The first round of the Health Lungs for Life 2021 grant awards closed at the end of the February 2021. With a total of 40 applications, we selected successful five projects from: Ghana, Ireland, Italy, Nigeria and the UK.
Activities have already begun in Nigeria and plans for activities in the other countries are underway.
Bayero University delivered the “Physical Activity for Promoting Adolescent (lung) Health (PAPAH)” project in selected secondary schools in Kano State focussing on the physical activity key topic of the HLfL Campaign.
The activities included:
St John of God College of Health will use their grant to educate street hawkers and traders on preventing air pollution, stopping cigarette smoking, being physically active and the need to have vaccinations to maintain healthy lungs for life. As part of the three-day event, a radio talk show will be delivered by a public health expert, a sanitation officer and a physiotherapist. The project will also deliver virtual education on social media platforms relating to air quality for healthy lungs and advice on how to reduce this. A street walk through the principal streets of Duayaw Nkwanta will hold placards with educational messages and distribute fliers to the public. The main events for the project will take place between Thursday 23 September and Saturday 25 September 2021 (World lung Day).
The Irish Thoracic Society plan to theme their Annual Scientific Meeting on the topics of clean air and physical activity for ‘Healthy Lungs for Life’. The grant will fund the communication and related materials for the 5 km green run that will take place during the conference. The run will aim to promote the importance of physical activity and air quality for lung health and complement the aims of the Healthy Lungs for Life campaign. COVID-19 permitting, it will include a free spirometry test for spectators and members of the media at the finishing line of the run. The theme of “ITS ASM goes green for Healthy Lungs for Life” will be announced on World Lung Day (Saturday 25 September 2021).
A group of paediatricians and paediatric residents working at the University Hospital of Pisa will focus their grant funding on stop smoking. This group will deliver a virtual and interactive project made up of a web-based surveys and an awareness-raising campaign. The campaign will include an educational video and a free webinar, which will aim to focus on the risks of third-hand smoke. The project activities will take place in a timeframe linked to World No Tobacco Day (Monday 31 May 2021).
Music for Wellbeing will work with a variety of local partners to provide a varied programme of talks, exercise, movement and singing sessions, particularly for people with lung conditions. These free to access, online activities will be UK focussed but will be available for the world between Wednesday 5 May and Thursday 13 May 2021 and linked to World Asthma Day (Wednesday 5 May 2021). The aim of the project is to spread the underlying messages around physical activity and stopping smoking to promote the importance in relation to lung health.
This year, we revised our Healthy Lungs for Life grants scheme, including a new application form and revised criteria, with two application deadlines per year. There is up to €1,000 available for each successful grant application.
All applications go through the following stages of assessment:
Stage 1 – Administration checks to ensure all applicable application questions were completed, all required information was provided and that the application is fit for purpose. All applications were anonymised by a member of the ELF team who was not involved in the later stages of reviewing.
Stage 2 – In this funding round, we had 40 applications, of which 10 made it to our shortlist. To decide the shortlisted applicants, an internal ranking based on the following criteria was created:
– Value for money
– Number of estimated beneficiaries
– Geographical scope and location
– Impact on beneficiaries
– Link to suggested International Awareness Days
Stage 3 – Three judges analysed the shortlist and ranked the projects based on the impact for patients and the public, potential advocacy influence and links to lung function testing. All judges’ results were combined, and grants were awarded to the 5 highest scoring applications.
The next deadline for applications is Saturday 31 July 2021. You can find out more about the Healthy Lungs for Life campaign, how to apply for a grant and access the application criteria, on the Healthy Lungs for Life webpage.
