NGO – Youth Health Initiative Takes Medical Outreach to Ijagbo

 

 

A non-governmental organization, Young Health Initiative (YHI) at the weekend organized one-day free medical services and sensitization on diabetic disease for people of Ijagbo in Oyun local government of Kwara state, as part of activities it lined up to mark the 2023 World Diabetes Day.

The exercise, which took place at the Palace of Onijagbo of Ijagbo, Oba Buhari Sharafadeen Adeniyi, attracted dozens of residents, particularly the aged, who trooped out as early as 7 am to run tests and get treatments for diabetes, hypertension and malaria.

Addressing newsmen, the President of the association, Kolawole Tijani, said the event was put together to create awareness and give the Ijagbo Community access to know their health status for proper management, and in commemoration of World Diabetes Day.

World Diabetes Day is annually celebrated on the 14th of November, and the theme for this year’s is “Access to diabetes care”.

“Today is World Diabetes Day and we decided to take this medical outreach and awareness to the Ijagbo community so that we can create awareness on diabetes for them to watch their diet and manage their health properly,” he said at the exercise that was powered by a team of health professionals and medical students from the University of Ilorin.

“Our people’s health is very important to us. We are giving them free consultations, and free medical screening on blood pressure, sugar level, and weight check among others. At the end of the day, we are also giving them free drugs.

“After this awareness programme, we encourage them to visit nearest health facilities and do regular checkups like BP, Sugar level, and even once in a year, they can do kidney checks because one of the complications of diabetes is chronic kidney disease”.

Tijani, who decried the alarming rate of people contracting diabetes as a result of ignorance or nonchalance, said it was important for people to be mindful of their diet and to regularly go for medical checkups, adding it is safer to prevent or detect an ailment early.

According to him, the Young Health Initiative was established about two years ago to ensure that people live healthy and in good condition, and it has been working on awareness creation on various health issues including diabetes, malaria and hypertension among others.

He commended the Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for his government’s investments and achievements in the health sector, which he said have continued to impact the lives of citizens, saying the outreach serves to complement such.

“We acknowledge various initiatives of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq in the health sector, especially ongoing free medical outreach across the 16 local governments.

“We also appreciate the Commissioner for Health, Dr Aminat El-Imam for her support to the organization and this outreach in particular,” he added.

Onijagbo of Ijagbo, Oba Buhari Sharafadeen Adeniyi, who expressed delight at the choice of the Ijagbo Community for the outreach, described the programme as excellent and commended the group for their service to humanity.

The traditional ruler called on other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to emulate the gesture that he said complements the efforts of the state government in promoting access to quality healthcare service delivery.

“We are happy to receive the group of health professionals in the Ijagbo Community for medical outreach. The screening process is excellent because they checked our blood pressure and sugar levels.

They also provided people with medical advice based on the results of their findings. I just did my own too. We need this type of medical outreach from time to time, to complement the efforts of the state government in promoting healthy citizenry,” he said.

Mrs. Afusat Faruyi, one of the beneficiaries who spoke to newsmen, said “This programme is beneficial. Many of us are oblivious of our health conditions until we are tested. So, it is really helpful. We thank the organizers, Young Health Initiative and the state government for placing a high premium on our health.”

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