Judex Okoro, Calabar
The drive to improve healthcare delivery in Cross River State has continued to gather momentum as Bassey Kubianga Educational Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, has intensified campaigns on community health and healthy lifestyle.
The foundation, named after Dr. Bassey Kubianga, a renowned medical practitioner and educationist is a pro-health and educational organization, has been organising awareness campaigns including monthy health talk, yearly reward for the best graduating medical student at the University of Calabar as well as an annual school debate for schools in Cross River State using the British Parliamentary Debate Format.
Besides, the Foundation has empowered traditional birth attendants on information they need to know to avoid complications during child births. the foundation is of the view that the traditional birth attendants play significant role in health sector and therefore, there is need to incorporate them as care givers.
Speaking at the BK International House Hall, Calabar during the 14th edition of the British Parliamentary Format of its health debate competition for secondary schools held in Calabar, the Board of Trustees, chairman of the foundation, Dr. Joseph Anah, said the foundation prioritises health promotion and prevention because it is cheaper than waiting to get sick and be cured.
Dr. Anah, who is also a former Commissioner for Health in Cross River State, said the idea of organising a debate for young secondary school students is to take the message of healthy lifestyle to the students and also enhance their public speaking skills as part of their learning process, emphasising that all participating schools are winners.
“Our key programme is on health promotion and prevention because we recognize that it is cheaper and better to prevent illnesses than to wait for it to happen and cure hence our focus on health promotion.
“Every year, we have eight schools and this is our 14th year. We started with the normal kind of debate but we changed to the format used by the oldest parliament in the world , the House of Commons because it is very civilised and also a good format for the younger ones to imbibe and know how to conduct civilised debate, respecting the opposition and the opposition also respecting those proposing.
“Our topic usually has something to do with to do with health and we take a topic and give it a health flavor. We hope to be able to generate that capacity for debate, stating what you believe in and saying it with due respect, give people the opportunity to say something”, he said.
Also speaking, the chairman of Davandy Group, High Chief Asuquo Ekpenyong, said by participating in competitions like this, the students besides learning, add value to their lives generally and their health in particular.
“This is a very important occasion for the students because it is by participating in events like this that you address stage fright. If you shy away from participating, know that you are not adding any value to your life and future.
“This debate has been on for many years now and it is by participating in competitions like this that we pick talents and start grooming and developing them for the future”, the trustee said.
On his part, the Centre Manager of the BK Foundation, Abasiofon Udo, said the foundation is primarily into health promotion for the benefit of the society and the debate competition among secondary schools is one of the avenues where they disseminate the message of health promotion.
“We are on ground to give out these pieces of information because we believe having access to health information is as important as having access to a proper medical facility as we have come to see a society that places so much emphasis on medical facilities and then leaving out what they can do to actually prevent these illnesses.
“Through these activities, we are out to see to it that we give out that timely medical information so as to help the state and the country at large with information needed in order to avoid illnesses”, he said.
He added that the lives of young ones have been impacted through the aspect of schools debate because it has challenged a lot of students out there who have participated over time because the students research about the topic and through this, gain more knowledge, understanding, reality of life which goes a long way in preparing them for the future.
Monday Edna, one of the participating students said the debate afforded her the opportunity to widen her knowledge and also the advantages/disadvantages of the choices she makes.
“This is a nice platform for me to learn because I can boldly speak out in public something I have never done before and I am happy to participate.
“I learnt so many things about health particularly and I now know that in life there is advantage and disadvantage in the choices we make over our health”, she said.
Also speaking, Ima-Abasi Akpan said “It was a good learning competition. Besides, I like what the BK Education Foundation did because they gave schools the opportunity to engage in healthy competition and I learnt a lot about things I did not know.
“I was not aware of genetically modified foods but right now, I know a lot about this as well as their advantages and disadvantages. This will help me become a better student because I now know how to debate using the British Parliamentary format and various aspects of health which I will deploy for a healthy life”, she said.