7 April is World Health Day (WHD). It is celebrated annually, to draw attention to health issues of concern to people all over the world. The day is observed in every nation of the world, under the auspices of the United Nations (UN). The theme for 2022 is “Our planet, our health.”
This year’s World Health Day (WHD) aims to focus global attention on urgent actions needed to keep humans and the planet healthy and foster a movement to create societies focused on well-being.
This year’s theme is a call on all to reimagine a world where clean air, water and food are available to all; where economies are focused on health and well-being and where cities are liveable and people have control over their health and the health of the planet!
According to WHO, while the COVID-19 pandemic showed us the healing power of science, it also highlighted the inequities in our world. The pandemic has revealed weaknesses in all areas of society and underlined the urgency of creating sustainable well-being societies committed to achieving equitable health now and for future generations without breaching ecological limits. The present design of the economy leads to inequitable distribution of income, wealth and power, with too many people still living in poverty and instability. A well-being economy has human well-being, equity and ecological sustainability as its goals.
In line with the goals of WHO, ↓↑GivingTide International (↓↑G) and mass medical mission (m3) inaugurated the STABLE HEALTH INITIATIVE IN NIGERIA to mark the World Health Day. This involves the incorporation of a FREE AMBULANCE SYSTEM into a FREE SYSTEMATIC ANNUAL HEALTH SCREENING. This initiative is the first of its kind and the free ambulance system is known as “Ambulance Without Borders”.
The importance of this initiative in Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. According to the World Population Review (https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/life-expectancy), Nigeria currently has the 4th lowest life expectancy in the world. Nigerians live about 10 years less than Ghanaians, 20 years less than Indians and 30 years less than Singaporeans. Lagos (Nigeria’s economic capital) is ranked as the least liveable city in Africa and the second least liveable city in the world, according to the 2021 ranking of cities by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Healthcare infrastructure is a major criterion used in the ranking. The STABLE HEALTH INITIATIVE aims to complement the effort of government in addressing this current sad situation.
The unique feature of the Stable Health Initiative is the combination of preventive and emergency coverage for all the registered beneficiaries (registrants). Registrants would have access to the following vital services:
FREE HEALTH EDUCATION: Registrants would be given a broad overview of the importance of lifestyle, diet and environment in improving their health status.
FREE ANNUAL CANCER / GENERAL HEALTH SCREENING – This would be timed to coincide with the birthday of each registrant. One Mobile Cancer Centre (MCC) is to serve one million registrants.
FREE EMERGENCY AMBULANCE SERVICE – One ambulance is to serve 100,000 registrants (WHO recommendation). For example, Lagos State requires 200 ambulances for 20 million potential registrants.
To sustain these free services, ↓↑GivingTide aims to go beyond the conventional assumption that health infrastructure can be funded only by government budget or private investment, to further the 80/20 strategy of united and concerted philanthropy for the common good. Since the current conventional system of funding health care has failed the masses and made healthcare to be out of their reach. The 80/20 strategy empowers the social sector to complement the efforts of governments through the establishment of world-standard institutions of care that are available to all strata of society. The steering committee of ↓↑G is known as the Committee Encouraging Concerted Philanthropy (CECP).
The current Focal Cause of ↓↑GivingTide is the BIG WAR Against Cancer, aimed at establishing Nigeria’s first Comprehensive Cancer Centre (CCC). The CCC would be the first world class institution in Nigeria accessible to all social strata, since it would provide free service to those who need it most. The BIG WAR is operated by the National Cancer Prevention Programme (NCPP), an initiative of mass medical mission.
NCPP has led community-based cancer prevention in Nigeria, since 2007. In 2017, a fleet of Mobile Cancer Centres (MCC) was deployed, to great effect. The stable health initiative is being inaugurated to anticipate and complement the impact of the proposed CCC. The free emergency ambulance service would ameliorate the burden of acute emergencies, now compounded by COVID- 19. Eventually, the ambulance system would be integrated into the Critical Care Centre/System of the proposed CCC.