Two 23-year-old students of the Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM), Akingbola Adewunmi and Oluwananumi Dawodu, were recently adjudged winners of the Diana Award, established in memory of Princess of Wales, Diana to honour young persons aged 9-25 years for their social action or humanitarian work. The duo, who are in 500-level and are founders and directors of Health Drive Nigeria, an NGO aiming to reduce the spread of Hepatitis B in Nigeria, spoke with DAMILOLA ROLEOLA.
How do you feel being a recipient of The Diana Award?
Adewunmi: I feel happy and encouraged because being a non-governmental organisation, we’ve been recognised for our efforts.
Dawodu: I feel elated I was selected among thousands of applicants to be one of the winners of The Diana Award.
In what ways will this award impact your work and career?
Adewunmi: It will go a long way. Coincidentally, I intend to apply for a Master’s degree programme in a university and one of the criteria is listing competitive awards you’ve won and The Diana Award is a competitive award.
Dawodu: The award is going to play a good role in my career. The Diana Award being an international award also brings a lot of connections which will be very helpful for me in the medical field. Meanwhile, the award goes beyond publicity, it actually gives the individuals a platform to make progress in their work.
It’s believed that medical students are usually occupied with a lot to study and have little or no time for extracurricular activities. How did you cut out time to carry out these extra curricular activities?
Dawodu: As a student, you must know that your primary reason for going to school is to read and pass your examinations. After that, you can apply for extracurricular activities because it’s important to participate in them to become a ‘full package’ student.
While doing those programmes, did you anticipate any awards or gratifications will come at some point?
Adewunmi: No! When we started and up till now, I never anticipated any award. In fact, most of the awards I’ve gotten today were nominations without my knowledge.
Dawodu: I wouldn’t say I wasn’t expecting it because the award is a reward for hard work.
Hepatitis B remains an incurable disease, what does your project do differently in containing this killer disease?
Adewunmi: We make awareness and conduct health walks in communities to inform people about Hepatitis B as people are not aware of it and it’s actually killing a lot of people. We are also conducting free Hepatitis B screening and making people know their statuses. We also partnered with international organisations to vaccinate the average Nigerian for as low as N1,000 instead of paying more.
Dawodu: Our project is targeted at vaccinating those affected with hepatitis B. At least, one out of every 10 persons has Hepatitis B. So we try to vaccinate them at a little cost.
Surely, these social activities must have affected your academics, was it in a positive way, negative way or both?
Adewunmi: I discovered that I can multitask and right from the start, I’m very enthusiastic about reading because of my career as a medical student. So, it’s part of me and I’m always prepared. I can say for free that working with these organisations and carrying out these activities has paid a lot and even made me a better medical student.
Dawodu: Yes, my academics have been affected positively and negatively. You know, doing activities like this give you little time to study. But I try to strike a balance between academic life and social activities. So far, I’m doing well academically; I’ve not had any cause to repeat a particular class, which is the most important thing.
How did you source funds despite being students?
Adewunmi: For me, I used partnership, networking and collaboration as a means to get funds.
Dawodu: There are different ways such as crowd funding among ourselves and senior colleagues. We apply for grants and we also engage in partnership with organisations and government.
Were there any discouragements from the society, family, colleagues, etc., while you were carrying out the programmes?
Adewunmi: When we started, I didn’t inform my parents as they were mainly concerned with my medical career. Later on, they got to know and they supported me. I also enjoyed a lot of support from my lecturers, senior colleagues and many others.
Dawodu: At some point, we met with some challenges. However, based on the experiences we had with people who are positive with hepatitis B, we decided not to give up.
What’s your advice to young ones out there trying to change the world?
Adewunmi: My advice is, young people are the ones to change the world and so, we should be interested in solving the problems around us.
Dawodu: My advice to those who want to change the world like princess Diana did is that, changing the world requires confidence, collaboration, courage in the face of challenges and discouragements.
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