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From Jude Chinedu, Enugu
The convener, Art for Health Naija, Rose-Camile Aneke has said that art is a formidable tool for health advocacy and the dissemination of health information among the populace.
Aneke said this while inspecting a wall health mural painted at the Centre for Memories by the Art for Health Naija platform and inspired by the EIS fellowship where health journalists have been trained on understanding public health, epidemiology and infodemiology.
According to Aneke, the murals will help to pass proper health information pandemic outbreaks and epidemics, adding that she hopes to cover more public health centers in Enugu State.
She said that, “The health information on this wall is trying to push a healthy lifestyle. You see a community; children playing around, encouraging that habit which seems like it is dying down, where children are always on their computers, playing with their phones and stuff like that, to help enhance their mental health.
“We see the rat and the bread which speaks to the lassa fever where rats are the carriers. When this is done you will see that it teaches that we should not come in contact with items that have been contaminated by rats. And then proper storage of food to avoid rodents coming close to them.
“The next one is for us to encourage vaccination in our communities. The next is hand washing which prevents a lot of infectious diseases and then creating antimicrobial resistance awareness. It is something that we are battling now.
“Because people are continuing to misuse and abuse antimicrobials and this is going to cost us like a big health issue globally. The last image is sort of encouraging people to not share antibiotics. The man is carrying a placard which says, antibiotics no be gift, no share am.
“So you are not supposed to share antibiotics with your family and friends because they have similar symptoms. You are supposed to get it on prescription. It is not something you go and take on your own without prescription. So the entire aim of this is to have the entire message immortalised.
“I believe that art is a form of expression where we can immortalise these messages. We can spread awareness not just on the radio or TV. We can also spread awareness using art. So for everyone who walks in here looking at these images, they are picking one health information or the other. So people do come here everyday.
“The intention is to spread this across primary healthcare centres in Enugu State when they see this and how well it is done, if we get the permission, we can put this on their walls. This is purely my passion for spreading health information and using creating ways to do that as opposed to what we usually do.
On his part, the Director, Centre for Memories, Iheanyi IgbokoMy name is Iheanyi Igboko, said that the paintings will help educate, not just children, but their guardians would benefit from the messages contained in the murals.
“With the painting you see that we have a lot of children in our environment at the moment and we don’t just talk about the past. The centre stands on a tripod ‘maka unyia, taa na echi’, and in teaching them about the past, we also talk about the need to talk about the present.
“From the paintings in the mural you will see that these are things that children should be able to engage in now and not just for children but also for their caregivers and parents to know what is essential for the health of these children.
