Lebanon officials launch national awareness campaign for cardiac arrest in young people

The Lebanon Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), in collaboration with CHAMPS Fund at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) - an authorized International Training Center of the American Heart Association has launched a national awareness campaign on sudden cardiac arrest in young people. MoPH will be collaborating with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the Ministry of Youth & Sports to protect the lives of young people from sudden cardiac arrest.

The Ministry of Education & Higher Education will make cardiac screening mandatory to students enrolled in school varsity teams, make AEDs mandatory in schools and universities and train students in CPR.

The Ministry of Youth & Sports will make cardiac screening mandatory to all professional athletes and university student athletes, make CPR training mandatory for coaches and make AEDs mandatory in sports fields and health clubs/gyms.

This is the second year of the campaign lead by Dr. Mona Osman, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at AUBMC and Founder of CHAMPS Fund. She lost her son, Hicham, from cardiac arrest at the age of 15 while playing sports, and his death inspired her to take action. The CHAMPS Fund is a charitable fund at AUBMC whose mission is to prevent sudden cardiac arrest in the young athletes, raise public awareness regarding the increasing burden of cardiac risk among the young and alleviate the sufferings of families affected by the loss of young person.

AUBMC and Dr. Osman have been active for the past couple of years in installing AEDs around the university campus and training staff and students in CPR.