In a bid to provide essential healthcare services and awareness to its immediate community, Covenant University Postgraduate Student Council (CUPGSC) in partnership with Beulah World Initiative (BWI), Covenant Applied Informatics and Communicate Africa Centre of Excellent (CApICE-ACE) and Covenant University Community Development Impact Initiatives Committee (CU-CIDC) organised medical outreach for the community.
The event held at the weekend at the PG hall, Covenant University, was tagged ‘Aspire 8.0 Medical Outreach 2025,’ with services which included health talk, Prostate/Breast Cancer and Malaria Awareness/Screening, general medical consultation, medical tests and treatment, eye test, treatment and distribution of glasses.
The Centre Leader, CApICE-ACE, Covenant University, Prof. Emeka Iweala, explained that the outreach is aimed at sharing knowledge and information about critical health situations in the community, especially Malaria, Breast and Prostate Cancer, which also happen to be the core research areas of CApICE-ACE.
“Another critical reason for this outreach is to get people screened on these health conditions, so that people can know their status and then know the next step to take. Whether to go and see a doctor or the measures to take to remain negative if they are screened negative.”
He explained that the centre assists postgraduate students of the University, hence the support for the outreach, which he said will go a long way to help students in their research and educate them on health awareness.
“PG students are very critical components of the University, and secondly, they are active researchers; most of them are conducting research in this area and they need to understand these diseases and also have access to samples for their research.”
Talking on ways to create more awareness and information on cancer, which, according to him, is increasing daily among Nigerians, Prof. Iweala advised on the need for Nigerians to get accurate information concerning these diseases, especially Prostate cancer for men and breast cancer for females.
“If they have information regarding the causes of these cancers, prevention, treatment and also if they get screened, they’ll know what to do.”
The Coordinator, Beulah World Initiative, Nigeria, Ms Chichi Ononiwu, said BWI is dedicated to promoting the physical, mental, social and emotional well-being of Nigerians and will always be in support of outreaches like this to alleviate the burden of health maintenance of communities.
“We are a health-based organisation; we have a passion for building healthy communities, where people can be aware of the need to actually live healthily, and because of that, we hold monthly medical outreaches in rural communities across Nigeria. We’ve done a lot, especially in the west, but we’re moving gradually towards the south.
She disclosed that BWI has had about 120 outreaches since inception and also collaborated with people who are doing the same in the area of health, which is why they have done several outreaches partnering big organisations like CApIC-ACE, the Covenant University Community Development Initiatives Committee and others.
Dr. Lola Adebanjo of CU Health Centre, in her remarks, said the main objective of the outreach is to create awareness regarding cancers and malaria because these are very rampant in society, claiming a lot of lives, causing a lot of damage.
“So we came to give a talk to see how people can be more aware of this condition and all that we can do to reduce the prevalence of this disease in our society.”
Speaking on the impact of health outreaches to the community, Dr. Adebanjo said there are always different awareness programmes, depending on the target population of the time.
Speaking at the event, Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies, Covenant University, Professor Conrad Omohinmi commended the collaborators for the support given to the Postgraduate school on the outreach, adding that it will go a long way to improve the health awareness of the community and as well help in researches for postgraduate students of the University.
The Chairman, CU PG Student Council, Theophilus Nang Wakai said Aspire 8.0 medical outreach is part of the creative engagement of Postgraduate students.
He said the outreach is aimed at reaching out to PG students, sensitising them about common ailments plaguing the community, like malaria and cancer.
He disclosed that there are over 600 students in the PG school, but the target is 300, saying the number may increase, and thanked the sponsors of the programme.
