By Etatsemi Onoriode
Sapele: Delta Reproductive Health Initiative and Research Center (DERHIREC) an NGO based in Sapele, Delta State has ended a week long seminar on sexual and reproductive health with free general health checkup including screening for cervical and prostrate cancers among hundred and twenty participants all adults of both gender drawn from every segment of the community.
During seminar, participants were screened at no cost for Blood Pressure check, urinalysis, blood sugar and packed cells volume, as the female had screening for cervical cancer and those with suspicious lesions had pap smear done at the center at highly subsidized rate. While males were screened for prostate cancer and those with suspicious prostatic size had Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) done at the centre also at subsidized rate.
Professor Lawrence Omo-Aghoja Executive Director of the centre, said the centre will promote the reproductive health and well being of Nigerians and improve the practice of sexual and reproductive health in the country with a vision to be the leading centre in Africa documented to research advocacy, documentation and service delivery in sexual and reproductive health.
Prof. Omo-Aghoja, a professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, remarked further that Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) is defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the productive system and to its functions and process.
He noted that Nigerians have extremely poor SRH status which is driven by the high level of illiteracy, poverty, ignorance, inappropriate knowledge of SRH and lack of advocacy activities by the Vanguards of SRH coupled with extreme paucity of centers dedicated to the practice of sexual and reproductive health in Nigeria, adding that in Delta State, only Delta Reproductive Health Initiative and Research Center exist.
Professor Omo-Aghoja, who is also the Dean of Faculty of Clinical Medicine of Delta State University Abraka lamented that despite the high contribution of cervical cancer to female mortality and prostatic cancer to male mortality, there have been few policies, programmes and advocacy activities that address these problems, pointing out that they “believe that a community based project involving key community members as active partners is critical to increasing women’s access to effective and appropriate practice of SRH, prevention and control measures of cervical and prostatic cancers in the region”.
He noted further that it was against this back drop that the programme was put together by DERHIREC with overall goal of increasing women’s access to effective and appropriate practice of SRH, prevention and control measures of cervical and prostatic cancers in Sapele as well as optimizing the reproductive health status of women and men in Delta State.
Participants at the end of the seminar, expressed profound appreciation to staff and management of the organization for the land mark programme, and were quite happy that their knowledge about SRH has been enriched and their health status determined at no cost.
