Scores of asthmatic children were given a demonstration to help control their condition as part of a campaign to cut hospital admissions.

One in five children on the Island suffers from asthma, meaning Bermuda has one of the highest rates of the illness in the world. Campaigners at charity group Open Airways have visited numerous schools across the country, trying to get children to understand how they can cope with their illness.

Friday, they visited West Pembroke Primary School, where 72 children are asthmatic ? a third of the school?s pupils. They made a presentation in front of the youngsters, explaining a variety of techniques which can cut their chances of suffering attacks.

Each asthmatic pupil was presented with a pillow and information sheets, which they were told to present to their parents or guardians.

They were told to buy a new pillow each year to combat mould and dust-mites which build up and can spark an attack, and to put their stuffed toys in a freezer every week to kill mites.

Pupils were also warned about the danger of chemicals within the house.

Open Airways founder Liz Boden referred to an example last summer, when a baby had to be taken to hospital a number of times with serious breathing difficulties.

Mrs. Boden said when the charity visited the baby?s home, it discovered eight ?plug-in? air fresheners in a relatively small area ? one of which was directly below the baby?s crib.

As soon as the air fresheners were removed, the baby?s health improved dramatically.

?Every time the baby went to the hospital, it got better,? said Mrs. Boden. ?But every time it went home it got sick.

?I got to the house and it was so clean and so perfect ? but I nearly fell over backwards from the smell of the air freshener. It was a very small house and they had eight plug-ins, and one of them was under the crib.

?I took all the plug-ins away and now the baby doesn?t even have asthma. But that baby could have died.?

She urged children not to use bathroom air freshener sprays and to encourage their parents not to smoke in the house.

Lady Vereker, the patron of Open Airways, presented the youngsters with pillows and fact-sheets, as well as performing an impromptu demonstration of mopping the floor to show the importance of cleaning properly.

Open Airways has helped cut admissions of asthma sufferers to hospital by nearly three quarters since forming ten years ago ? even though the number of sufferers has increased significantly in that time. These efforts compare favourably with the US, where hospital admissions have risen in the same period, and the UK, where they have fallen by just 6.5 percent.

The success comes after the charity gave special training to hundreds of healthcare professionals, held numerous presentations and rallied for a series of initiatives to tackle asthma rates.

In Bermuda, asthma affects one in four pre-school children, one in five to seven primary school children and one in ten adults. The Island?s high humidity provides an ideal environment for potential allergic triggers including mould, mildew, dust-mites, cockroaches, plants, trees, grasses and flowers.

The high density of vehicles ? 52,000 in 24 square miles ? also causes considerable air pollution, while a large proportion of cars and trucks have diesel engines, which is proven to be a major irritant for people with asthma.

Open Airways has tackled the problem by training more than 200 healthcare professionals, to educate people on how to control asthma.

Mrs. Boden said Open Airways still had much more work to do and that regular visits to schools like West Pembroke could have a positive effect. ?The idea is to teach all the children about asthma and to educate them about the triggers, especially the ones which you can do something about,? she said.

?The children really enjoy the lively interactive assembly. The message is that no one should suffer with asthma. The goal is control. With modern medications, good compliance and avoiding as many triggers as possible, the children can lead healthy, active lives and even be Olympic stars!?