Tags Posts tagged with "awareness"

awareness

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In a bid to make this year’s World AIDS Day highly impactful, the Nigeria Red Ribbon Coalition, a strategic public-private sector alliance, organised a novelty football match yesterday in Lagos to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and also provide free HIV Testing and Counselling services.

The celebrity football match featured ex-international football stars who have carved a niche for themselves in the soccer sporting world as well as notable celebrities in the Nigerian music and film industry.

Leading the Ex-international stars were Emmanuel Babayaro (health Ambassador and Ex-Super Eagles Goalkeeper), Ifeanyi Udeze, Victor Agali, Emmanuel Okocha, Abdul Isah and several others. Representing the movie and music industry were stars like Belinda Effah (actress and presenter), John Njamah (actor/movie producer), ID Cabassa (popular music producer whose real name is Olumide Ogunade), Sound Sultan (a Nigerian rapper, singer-songwriter, actor, comedian and recording artist, born Olanrewaju Fasasi), and a host of other celebrities who took time out of their busy schedules to join hands in pushing back the scourge of our common adversary – HIV.

‎The coalition convened by Coca-Cola , Nigeria comprises Youth Empowerment Foundation (YEF), Youth Empowerment and Development Initiative (YEDI), Society for Family Health (SFH).

Declaring the match open, the convener and Community Affairs Manager, Coca-Cola Nigeria, Emeka Mba, reiterated the company’s resolve to support grassroots innovative approaches aimed at improving lives nationwide. He noted that the Coalition which started last year, was building on the successes made at the inaugural edition in 2015 by mobilizing and sensitizing people to know their status with the provision of free HIV testing services in a friendly environment, tackling issues of stigmatization, discrimination and fear of getting tested, promoting social inclusion and adequate care for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and stimulating a larger stakeholder involvement.

Mba added that no individual, government, or organisation can single-handedly make meaningful progress in the fight against HIV/AID, hence the need for a coalition.

In her remarks, the Executive Director, Youth Empowerment and Development Initiative (YEDI), Anu Ishola underscored the coalition’s strategy of leveraging each party’s organisational strength and corporate core competences that has brought the pan-Nigeria alliance thus far.

“We decided to have a strategic alliance that boasts of credible NGOs like Society for Family Health, Youth Empowerment Foundation (YEF), YEDI and other private sector partners like Ford Foundation, Federal Palace Hotel, Owu SportsWear, etc. Coupled with celebrity advocacy – with a star-studded Novelty match on the side, we have been able to reach out to a large spectrum of people who have come out not just to watch football, but also to voluntarily get tested and counselled for HIV.”

She expressed gratitude to global beverage giant Coca-Cola – the chief funder of the initiative and MAC AIDS as well as other partners who are contributing immensely to the fight against HIV/AIDS.

On the impact of a novelty match in combating HIV, the leader of the ex-International who is also a health Ambassador, Emmanuel Hyacinth Babayaro, older brother of former Chelsea and Newcastle United player Celestine Babayaro said:”We are leveraging celebrity advocacy and role modelling to mobilize people because behind every celebrity or role model, there are a thousand and one people who would like to emulate them.

So we have all of them here today for free because they believe in this cause and they want to contribute their quota. Young people came out here today to be tested and get accurate information about HIV/AIDS. Our target this year is to provide free HIV Counselling and Testing to 18,000 persons across 11 states in Nigeria including Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Edo, Enugu, FCT Abuja, Gombe, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, and Oyo with a combination of activities including this novelty match. I’m happy to be a part of this.”

In her views, Iwalola Akin-Jimoh the Executive Director of YEF, the novelty match and other activities were important as they serve as ways of reminding the Government, private sector organisations and the general public that HIV has not gone away and that collectively, there is the need to increase awareness, fight prejudice and stigmatization, improve awareness/sensitization channels and develop appropriate funded programmes to maintain the drive towards eradicating the scourge.

The fun-filled novelty match which drew a huge crowd within the Lagos Island environs, including Mr. Ibrahim Umoru, Executive Director, Good Health Educators Initiative and former coordinator, Lagos State Chapter of the Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, ended 5-3, in favour of ex-internationals who played against celebrities and corporate Nigeria. There was also a celebrity placard display with various messages to raise awareness about HIV as well as o one-minute in respect of those who have died as a result of the dreaded virus.

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Proper education and awareness of neuro-medical disabilities have been identified as tools for defeating cerebral palsy in the country, even as government at all levels have been urged to take its fight against the disease seriously.

This was made known by facilitators and participants at the second walk for cerebral palsy organised in Lagos recently by the Benola Cerebral Palsy Initiative.

Speaking with The PUNCH on what informed the walk, the  convener of the event, Air Vice-Marshall Femi Gbadebo(Rtd), whose 20-year-old son suffers from cerebral palsy, stated that with an estimated 17 million people living with the neuro- medical condition worldwide, it became imperative to organise the walk to sensitise Nigerians.

He said, “Despite the fact that cerebral palsy is also prevalent in children, it is sad to note that there is no specific date dedicated to mark the event by the World Health Organisation.

“Having managed my son’s condition for quite some time and travelled extensively around the world, I came to the conclusion that something is fundamentally wrong with the way disability is being managed in Nigeria,’ he said.

Arguing that the mindset of Nigerians must change if cerebral palsy would be ultimately defeated, Gbadebo said, “We need to get the Federal Government and the private sector involved in this fight. I believe that it is ignorance that gives rise to the fear and stigma associated with disabilities in this country.

“We came up with a decision to do something different by educating the public and embarking on capacity building, especially for those involved in the care and management of disabilities. Last year, we had about 500 participants at the inaugural walk. This year, our target was 1000.”

PUNCH.

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Dr. Julia Ejiogu is the Founder/Chief Executive Officer of Autism Care and Support Initiative. In this interview with Feminista, she speaks on education and support of children affected by autism, as well as their families.

Can you tell us more about this foundation?

Our organization’s motive and vision is centered around providing access to care for children who have autism as well as their families. We are also involved in advocacy. We want to tell the world about autism, we want people to understand the challenges that children who have autism face, especially the stigma that surrounds them. Also to let parents know that autism is not a death sentence and that if you intervene early, your child can have an opportunity to mainstream life. That is possible with the right therapy and the right method of teaching. We also train teachers on how to teach these children and  run an inclusive class room. We work with the National University Commission to promote inclusive education. We have done a lot of work in these areas, as well as round-table seminars, and they have been great in promoting inclusive education.

Why Autism?

I am a family physician and was trained in the US. I returned here two and half years ago. Family medicine allows you to practice medicine on every spectrum, so,I do pediatrics; I have often diagnosed children with autism. On returning to this country, I met several friends, families and colleagues who have revealed to me the difficulty in finding resources for their children. No parent should leave this country in search of good services because it is possible to have it here. If we trained the therapist the right way, using the right method, the same way a child with autism in Alaska, Virginia will respond is also the same way a child in Enugu, Zaria and Lagos will respond to therapy. There is no difference. It is all about using the evidence based method.

So, our desire is to train more people who can provide this therapy the right way.

What is the uniqueness in your foundation?

We have an approach  on research and evidence-based intervention. We practice an integrated   approach; not only do we provide one-on-one services for children but for the parents and care givers. Even the driver-  whoever interacts with that child can also be provided with the basic training for that child as he takes the child to school.

A child who has autism, according to researchers, should have forty hours a week therapy intervention and this is pretty difficult to find in this part of the country. What we want to do is to give the child some of those hours when they go to school, also give some hours when they come back home, while their parents and caregiver also provide same kind of therapy intervention and we get closer to the forty hours intervention.

We are not just focusing on the child but with every individual that cares for the child. We have been in existence for two and half years. We have about fifteen children right now but more of the male because autism affects  more male than female, the ratio is about 4-1.

How do you create your awareness?

Sometimes we do mass communication by e-mail, reminding people that it is important that a child who has autism be included in the society. They shouldn’t be neglected- that if detected early, that child can go to a regular school and can have a better life. We are also planning to set up a new centre. Our main aim is to tell Nigerians that autism is becoming an epidemic in the world. 1 in every 68 children, quoting the CDC in the United States, has autism. In Nigeria, we don’t know what the data is. We will like to change that. We are collecting our data and in the next few years, we will set our structures in a better way.

As a professional, do you see any gap in managing autism in Nigeria

Very huge, first of all resources are all scattered. So, parents have difficulties as to where to find help.

For example, here, most mothers take their children to hospital only during immunization or when that child is running temperature. But in the states, visits to the pediatrician are regular and  as a result, the child can be evaluated and any abnormality detected can be tackled immediately.

In the US, the county, which is the local government here in Nigeria, will immediately set up a team to evaluate the parents’ home and evaluate the child and recommend services.

Some children start as early as eighteen months, so, you can imagine how well that child will change his orientation.

It is such an important thing to do between eighteen months to five years; that is when the brain is moulding. When that time passes, things become more complex and tougher to handle.

Let me take you back to the way of life in Nigeria. We live in a country where people believe in spiritual forces. What advice do you give to such people?

Here is a very big issue. I believe in spiritual powers and higher power. If your child has exhibited continued patterns of behavior such as jumpping up, wanting to spin around, smells people or pinches people, and is aggressive and would want to be by themselves most times, you should double check.

If you have prayed and fasted and you still see things happening, then it is no challenge to your faith. There is wisdom in seeking professional evaluation and help. There is nothing wrong in praying and fasting as well as getting professional help.

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No fewer than 500 people were screened for cancer in Lagos by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) Nigeria.

The event, which held at the Media Centre, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), had in attendance men, women, the elderly and the young as beneficiaries. They were enlightened about the disease.

The Executive Secretary, CECP Nigeria, Dr. Abia Nzelu, who called on stakeholders to fund the acquisition of Mobile Cancer Centres (MCCs) to facilitate cancer prevention through screening and early treatment at the grassroots, said regular screening and early detection of cancer help to save lives.

The programme, according to her, created awareness on the various types of cancers, which men and women are prone to.

The executive secretary also urged women to be weary of breast cancer, adding: “Women should watch lump in breasts; change in breast size or shape; fluid other than breast milk from breasts; bloody nipple discharge and peeling or redness of breasts skin as symptoms of cancer and persistent pain in breasts.”