Announcement: Healthy and Safe Swimming Week — May 23–29, 2016
Weekly / May 20, 2016 / 65(19);500
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May 23–29, 2016, marks the 12th annual Healthy and Safe Swimming Week.* This observance highlights ways that swimmers; parents of young swimmers; aquatic facility operators; residential pool, hot tub, or spa owners; beach managers; and public health officials can maximize the health benefits of water-based physical activity while minimizing the risk for recreational water–associated illness and injury.
This year’s theme is “Check out Healthy and Safe Swimming.” Swimmers and parents of young swimmers can help protect their health and that of their families and friends by checking the latest inspection results for public pools, hot tubs, spas, interactive water play venues (water playgrounds), and other aquatic venues. They can also complete their own quick but effective inspection before getting in the water (http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/healthyswimming/materials/infographic-inspection.html). The latest MMWR Surveillance Summary reports on violations of public health codes identified during routine inspections of public aquatic facilities and resulting immediate closures (1). A public health communications toolkit for Healthy and Safe Swimming Week is available online (http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/observances/hss-week/response-tools-public-health.html).
CDC also will release the second edition of the Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC) during the 2016 summer swim season (Memorial Day–Labor Day) (2). The MAHC is national guidance that can help state and local jurisdictions and the aquatics sector make swimming and other recreational water activities healthier and safer. Content of this edition of the MAHC reflects the input from state and local public health colleagues who joined the Council for the Model Aquatic Health Code (CMAHC; https://cmahc.org/index.php). Members of the CMAHC† dedicated time to review the first edition of the MAHC, propose revisions to promote public health, and vote on approximately 160 change requests.
References
- Hlavsa MC, Gerth TR, Collier SA, et al. Immediate closures and violations identified during routine inspections of public aquatic facilities—network for aquatic facility inspection surveillance, five states, 2013. MMWR Surveill Summ 2016;65.
- CDC. The Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC): a model public swimming pool and spa code. Atlanta, GA: US Health and Human Services, CDC; 2016. http://www.cdc.gov/mahc/currentedition/index.html
* http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/observances/hss-week/index.html.
† Additional information on how to become a CMAHC member is available online (http://www.cmahc.org/membership.php).
Suggested citation for this article: Announcement: Healthy and Safe Swimming Week — May 23–29, 2016. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2016;65:500. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6519a4.
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