Y2022 World Health Day: Make Your Health A Priority – LASUTH

The Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, (LASUTH), through its Community Health & Primary Health Care Department, joined the rest of the world to commemorate World Health Day with an awareness campaign to sensitise the residents of the Ikeja community on the need to make their health a priority. 

Speaking during the awareness campaign, Dr. Modupe Akinyinka, Consultant, Public Health Physician and Acting Head of Community Health & Primary Health Care Department (CH&PHC), said the World Health Organisation (WHO) designated the 7th of April of every year as a Day to draw the attention of the people to their health and the need to take adequate care of it.

She said the purpose of the medical outreach is to commemorate the day by sensitising the community about the importance of taking good care of their environment and also to educate them about the connection a healthy planet has to the health of human beings.

Dr. Akinyinka disclosed that the theme of the Y2022 World Health Day: “Our Planet, Our Health”, is a pointer to the fact that the health of the people is very important and there is a need to prioritise it by making efforts to take proper care of the environment.

She explained that the free medical consultation and provision of free drugs organised by the hospital, through the CH&PHC Department, was designed to enlighten the people in the community about their health status and why it must never be neglected at all times.

According to her, “The World Health Organisation estimated that about 13 million deaths recorded around the world each year are due to avoidable environmental causes. This includes the climate crisis which is the single biggest health threat facing humanity.”

“It is on this premise that WHO aims to focus global attention on urgent actions needed to keep humans and the planet healthy; and foster a movement to create societies focused on well-being as the world celebrates the World Health Day”, she averred.

In his remarks, Dr. Toriola Femi-Adebayo, a Consultant Public Health Physician in the Department, also advised the general public to always recycle plastic bottles and cans of fizzy drinks, as part of ways to ensure that the planet stays clean for people to remain healthy. 

She implored the people not to hesitate to visit the hospital for regular checkups so that any abnormality can be diagnosed and treated early.