Special Olympics Myanmar Launches First Healthy Athletes Screening

By Amy

Nearly 450 Special Olympics athletes participated in the first-ever Healthy Athletes screening event in Muayna, Myanmar, which took place alongside the Special Olympics Myanmar National Games held on 14–15 November 2011.

Dr. Aung Naing, Clinical Director of the Muayna screening, was trained along with 5 other medical practitioners from Special Olympics’ Asia Pacific region in Athens during the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games.

The event, which was funded locally due to international sanctions, was a tremendous success according to Simon Koh, Director Operations, Special Olympics Asia Pacific, “We were thrilled to launch this unprecedented Healthy Athletes screening event in Myanmar. This took tremendous effort on Dr. Niang’s part as he organized all of the volunteers and was also responsible for attaining the facilities and equipment.”

During 2011, Healthy Athletes screenings were conducted in Myanmar, Cambodia, Albania, Armenia, Serbia, Macedonia and Seychelles for the first time.