By Due Gabriel Aondoungwa

the Nigerian Medical Students’ Association (NIMSA) established the Standing Committee on Public Health (SCOPH), the intention was to give ardent support and contribute to the attainment of the general goals of the Federal and subnational governments in the area of healthcare.

SCOPH is one of the most active and impactful arms of NIMSA. It is committed to promoting health, advocating for equitable health policies, and empowering medical students to be proactive public health champions.

In 1952, medical students of the International Federation of Medical Students Association (IFMSA) formed the Standing Committee on Students’ Health (SCOSH), driven by a strong will to take an active part in preventing and making policies concerning health problems. During the following years, the wide variety of activities led to the change of SCOSH to the Standing Committee on Health (SCOH) in 1963. In 1983, the name of the committee changed once more to the Standing Committee on Public Health (SCOPH).

SCOPH is open to all members of the Nigerian Medical Students Association comprising of more than 45,000 medical students.

The principal objectives and goals of SCOPH include the following: disease prevention within the society; health promotion and education within the society; raising awareness about global public health issues within medical students and our society; advocating for health policies as the voice of Nigerian medical students; developing skills and knowledge of medical students as future health professionals and, collaborate with national and supranational medical student associations, non-medical student associations, professional medical associations, public and private entities

It is heartwarming to note that the objectives and goals of SCOPH are being achieved. With regards to disease prevention, SCOPH has organized series of community outreaches, health education and awareness programs, that have empowered communities to fight disease and live healthier lives. Also, it has hosted a good number of webinars to inform, enlighten and empower the Nigerian medical students with knowledge and skills on public health and health-related issues.  SCOPH has have collaborated with supra-medical student associations, governmental and non-governmental organizations toward improving the health and wellbeing of the society.

As a patriotic Nigerian medical student, I am pleased to affirm and report that in past six months since the new leadership of NIMSA-SCOPH took the reins, it has focused on three primary goals: student development, partnerships and community impact. Significant efforts have been made in achieving these goals, and, have in fact, recorded remarkable success.

On student development, we have organized programs like SCOPH 101 to educate students about SCOPH and to empower them with critical skills in research, health advocacy and awareness. We have also held several webinars on important health days to discuss the role of students in disease prevention and eradication. On partnerships, we have collaborated with: Federation of Ghana Medical Student Association (FGMSA), Federation of African Medical Students Association (FAMSA), Miva Open University, State Ministries of Health and Sinai Development and Support Initiative (SDSI), to promote health awareness and develop the capacity of medical students in public health. On community impact, our team has led several initiatives that directly and indirectly impacted communities particularly in Nigeria. Through our social media handles, we have shared insightful content on disease prevention and management. Offline, we have organized a good number of outreaches across Nigeria to promote health awareness, diagnose diseases and treat communities.

Moreso, we have broadened our social media reach by creating an active LinkedIn account for the committee, increased our followership on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. And have featured on international social networks such as Oncodaily.

Looking at the Nigerian situation and particularly about preventive health checks, it is necessary to understand the ramifications. Preventive healthcare refers to approaches and activities aimed at reducing the likelihood that a disease or disorder will affect an individual, interrupting or slowing the progress of the disorder, or reducing disability. Unfortunately, The Nigerian Health System has not given priority to preventive healthcare. Our major achievement has remained in curative medicine – which involves treatment of patients for preventable disease infections in secondary and tertiary health institutions. This has poorly affected health outcomes in our society.

The shortcomings of preventive healthcare in Nigeria include: poor health policy formulation, inadequate human and material resources, underfunding of the health sector, poor facilities/infrastructure, insecurity challenges and poor political will.

The natural question then comes: what can be done to change the narrative on preventive health care in Nigeria? The simple answer is that the government should formulate policies that encourage and support preventive health care, with increased healthcare funding and training of health personnel. Stakeholders and professional medical associations should continue to advocate the cause of preventive healthcare in Nigeria. Medical students should be taught as future health leaders to appreciate the importance of preventive healthcare in achieving health outcomes in the society.

In this regard, government should develop and implement policies, allocate resources and provide infrastructure for health care; health professional associations should provide expertise, advocate for healthcare policies and educate the public; corporate bodies should sponsor health awareness campaigns and implement workplace wellness programs; high-network personalities should endorse health initiatives, influence public opinion and behaviours and leverage their social media platforms to raise awareness; religious bodies should encourage congregational members to adopt healthy behaviours and partner with health care providers for health education and screening.

It has been reported in the media that a group called People For People is currently mobilizing to kick-off a preventive healthchecks initiative. This initiative should gladden the heart of any patriotic Nigerian, particularly healthcare professionals who will provide the pillars of support for the effort of the group to be successful, make impact of then health of the beneficiaries. As body of future health professionals, I am certain that SCOPH is open to supporting health initiatives that align with our vision, goals and objectives. The leadership of NIMSA SCOPH should be approached with a formal proposal through this email address: [email protected]

Over the next six months, the current leadership of SCOPH leave a worthy legacy that will be marked by increased public health awareness and understanding of critical public health issues among medical students and the broader community; strengthened partnerships through established collaborations with organizations, governments and stakeholders to advance public health initiatives; capacity building programs which will lead to development and implementation of programmes to equip medical students with skills and knowledge to address public health challenges; active efforts to influence policy decisions and advocate for public health issues affecting communities; sustainable initiatives will be launched to continue to influence public health beyond the current tenure.

·       Aondoungwa, National Director of NIMSA-SCOPH and 500-Level medical student writes from Reverend Father Moses Orshio Adasu University (formerly Benue State University).