AS the 2023 August meeting commences across communities in Anambra, the state government, has appealed to women to be cautious so as not to contract communicable diseases.
Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Ben Obidike, made the appeal during the first Anambra Women Health Conference held at Professor Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre in Awka, on Tuesday.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that the women conference, sponsored by the World Health Organisation (WHO), was designed to train the women so that in return, they can take the messages down to their respective meeting venues.
Dr Obidike said the event would also help to raise awareness on common diseases that affect women and how those in attendance can take the lessons to the communities for the benefit of other women.
According to the commissioner, a healthy living is one of the greatest things in which every living being can invest.
“Good health is life’s most essential and precious element. We never realise its actual value until we lose it. I believe ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for all is important to building prosperous societies and central to building healthy communities and economies. When we are well, it is easier for us to cope with many of the difficulties that we all face.
“I believe the first responsibility of taking care of our health rests with ourselves and with our respective families.
“We owe it to ourselves, our families and our communities to take all necessary measures to protect ourselves and others against diseases. We can all do this by ensuring that we eat balanced diets, sleep and rest well, look after our surroundings and make sure that things around us are clean, and exercise regularly.
“We all know that despite all the care we take, we will at some point in our lives need help from the authorities and, especially, health service providers (the Ministry of Health). We must ensure children, mothers and families have access to healthcare and other services and are safe from violence in homes, schools and communities.
“Today, in this 2023 women health conference, I encourage you all to pay attention to your health and wellbeing of others. Exercise regularly. Eat a healthy diet. Limit alcohol consumption. Keep healthy lifestyles and maintain good hygiene and sanitary practices and try to keep a healthy weight,” he said.
The commissioner used the event to announce that Governor Chukwuma Soludo will create additional primary healthcare centres in all the 179 communities in the state.
In her remark, the governor’s wife, Mrs Nonye Soludo, asked the women to discuss fundamental issues affecting family and society.
She said the August meetings should provide important platform for women to point out peculiar problems that need urgent attention, beginning from the ones happening around them.
She called attention to rising moral deficits in child raising, depreciation of family values, drug abuse among school children, parental neglect and quest for illicit wealth among youths as key problems that the meeting can address.
She also called for awareness on proper family planning among couples, adding that an unplanned home is an impending disaster.
One of the guest speakers at the conference, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, Brian Adinma, said that 70 percent of reproductive health problems could be attributed to three problems which could originate from male or female reproductive systems.
He urged pregnant women to always prioritise good antenatal care, use approved maternity homes and skilled birth attendants, and make adequate birthplan, beginning from the first day of pregnancy.
On his part, the Executive Secretary of Anambra State Health Insurance Agency (ASHIA), Dr Simeon Onyemaechi, said access to health insurance has made health services easier in the state, with the agency’s coverage for treatment now expanded across over 300 health facilities in the state.
In his goodwill message, representative of World Health Organisation (WHO), Mr Ndubuisi Orji, while commending Mrs Soludo and the state ministry of health for the programme, also charged the women to be conscious of their health status.
He said WHO will continue to support the Anambra State government in ensuring quality healthcare services to the people.
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