600 secondary school students trained on public health, life skills

600 students from 10 secondary schools in Abuja have been trained on life skills and public health issues using the game of basketball.

The students were trained under the Power Foward programme, a collaboration of Africare, an international non -governmental organization, ExxonMobil, and the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Speaking during the launch of the fourth year of the Power Foward programme, in Abuja , Country Director of Africare , Dr. Orode Doherty said the 600 students who were trained since the programme commenced in 2013 to date have in turn trained other students and thousands of indirect beneficiaries.

She said Power Forward launched the Adopt a School programme in February, with each project school adopting a government secondary school in Abuja.

“2000 indirect beneficiaries have already been reached with malaria prevention and treatment messaging, with an end year target of 10,000 individuals reached,” she said.

She said the programme was aimed at preventing malaria, to ensure that the children have an understanding of groups vulnerable to malaria, importance of cleaning the environment, and educating pregnant women on the need for malarial treatment during pregnancy.

Manager, Government and Business Relations, ExxonMobil Nigeria, Mr Nigel Cookey-Gam, said the organization invested over $163 million in the fight against malaria between 2000 and 2017, because the disease kills more than HIV and road accidents with pregnant women, and children under 5 years being most vulnerable.

He said: “The program has been successful so far. We have given out over 14 million bed nets and malaria has been reduced by 60%. He added that the organization was working with the Federal Ministry of Health to bring in diagnostic equipment.