Today's Sunday Herald Sun mentions the ANZAC Friendship Match and swimming.
Today’s Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne has reported on the ANZAC Friendship Match and the Vietnam Swans’ support for swimming initiatives.
Under the headline, Kick along for swim program, it reports that:
“Former AFL Star Richard Osborne is returning to the footy field more than 12 years after his last game in 1998.
“Osborne will line up for the Vietnam Swans in a charity match on ANZAC Day (sic. The match will be played on Saturday 23 April) in Vietnam against the Hong Kong Dragons. [For full details of the Vietnam Swans 2011 ANZAC Friendship Match, click here].
“The match is to raise money for a swim program with statistics showing more than 40 children* drown in the country each day.”
* Footnote: With respect to the number of reported drownings in Vietnam, Jo Stewart from Swim Vietnam says that the statistics vary considerably:
- “The Vietnam Ministry of Health says that 10 children drown each day (taken from a study of hospital reported deaths of 7,249 in 2005 and 2006)
- “The Alliance for Safe Children reports that an average of 11,665 children drown per day (i.e 11,665 per annum).
- “UNICEF report more than 40 children drown each day (14,300 per annum) based upon a 2001 survey although now, UNICEF seems to be using the Vietnam Ministry’s lower figure. For example, in UNICEF’s own recent publication, Childhood Injury Prevention: The story of UNICEF’s interventions in Viet Nam reports that “On a typical day in Viet Nam almost twenty children die from injuries. Over half of them drown.”
“The reason for the huge difference is in the method of data collection. The lower number is hospital reported deaths due to drowning whereas the higher numbers are community-based surveys.”
- On 14 May 2011, the the Vietnam Swans, Montgomerie Links, Swim Vietnam and the Royal Life Saving Society of Australia will co host a Swing to Swim Charity Golf Day.
- For more articles about the Vietnam Swans that have appeared in the media, click here.
