Health Emergency Initiative has been awarded a one million naira grant from the Aspire Coronation Trust Foundation and IHS Towers to increase the number of secondary school students who know how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the event of a cardiac arrest, seizure, injuries such as fainting or bleeding. In a statement released to PUNCH Healthwise, ACT Foundation CEO Osayi Alile made the announcement, emphasising the importance of teaching CPR to young people so that they can intervene in life-threatening situations.
Alile explained that the initiative was necessary due to the rising concern about the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, including heart attack and cardiac arrest, in Nigeria and the resulting high death toll in recent years. She commented on the frightening rise in the frequency of road traffic accidents and other types of trauma in recent years. A recent report by the World Health Organization found that road traffic accidents remain the leading cause of death among young people worldwide, especially in Nigeria and other developing nations.
It entails an 8-week training at the Lagos Business School.
Speaking further, she explained that HEI’s selection as one of the top 10 finalists in the ACT Foundation Changemaker Innovation Challenge and the recipient of the IHS Towers assistance grant led to the award of this grant. She stated that this outstanding achievement led to the establishment of an eight-week leadership/management training scholarship for HEI personnel at the Lagos Business School. Between January and May of 2023, the programme was effectively conducted, resulting in 40 secondary school students and 25 of their teachers in Lagos’s six educational districts being better equipped with basic life-saving skills.
Every single one of the participants learned essential pre-hospital skills that are necessary for the management of a wide variety of medical emergencies, including heart attacks, cardiac arrest, fainting, seizures, internal bleeding, bites, poison, burns, wounds, choking, etc. In a similar vein, first responders clubs will benefit over one thousand students across Awodiora Senior Secondary School as well as AUD Comprehensive Secondary School were inaugurated, and she asserted that this would ensure the retention and transferability of knowledge.
Investment in young people translates to the business’s continuation.
Moreover, Paschal Achunine, who serves as the Executive Director of HEI, expressed immense appreciation to ACT Foundation as well as IHS Towers for their tremendous contributions. Achunine praised the organisations for their dedication to ensuring the long-term viability of their working environment and the social landscape throughout Africa. In addition to this, he urged them to keep in mind that making an investment in young people would directly translate to the continuation of the business’s operations.
He was delighted that HEI had been chosen as one of the top 10 finalists out of the African total of 250 organisations, he was delighted. He continued that the ‘Train the Trainer’ model of the programme is adhered to by the First Responders Clubs that have been established in the schools. In the same view, he mentioned that events in the schools, such as essay competitions, quizzes, and debates, will be implemented in order to cultivate a culture of life-saving within the state.
Support should be given to organisations that promote health.
On the other hand, Alile explained that the ACT Foundation was dedicated to empowering the youth and with these changes, to make a difference in people’s lives, which is the reason why it participated in the project to save lives. She urged several other organisations and individuals with the same goal to boost their support and engagement to promote the health, safety, and well-being of young people and imbue a more robust society of efficient emergency response in Nigerian, thereby improving the society.
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