A new education campaign designed to boost knowledge about asthma was sparked by the tragic death of a young boy in Britain.

Open Airways, an island asthma charity, is offering the Support Children’s Health-Asthma online course.

The George Coller Memorial Fund and Education for Health UK created the programme.

It was launched by Kim Douglas in 2000 after the death of her son, George Coller, who was 3 and died in his sleep from asthma in 1996.

A spokeswoman for Open Airways said that 20 per cent of children and 10 per cent of adults in Bermuda had asthma.

She added: “Many of these children and adults have uncontrolled asthma, which results in asthma attacks and potentially asthma deaths.”

The spokeswoman said it was estimated that more than 1,000 people died globally from asthma each day.

She added: “The majority of these are children of young adults and, tragically, most of these deaths were preventable.”

The online module covers areas such as how to recognise an asthma attack and what to do if an attack strikes.

The free course, aimed at people who work with or have children with asthma, takes about an hour to complete.

A certificate can be printed after the course work is completed.

The course is offered in a link-up with insurance firms Argus Group and BF&M.

For more information, visit openairways.com.