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Botswana: UB Health Fair Meant to Clear the Air
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Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
21 April 2008
Posted to the web 21 April 2008
Thato Chwaane
It was all fun at a University of Botswana (UB) students-organised health fair last Friday. A lecturer from the Department of Environmental Health and fair coordinator Bontle Mbongwe explained that the event was organised to dispel the general perception that the health sector was boring.
She said that they teach students theory in health education; how to market health and test what they have learnt. "We want them to be life-long learners and hence the decision to organise the fair," she said.
Mbongwe said the students were learning through serving the community in which they lived. The fair was also meant to promote awareness about diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart complications, oral health, alcohol and drug use, stress management and child safety. Members of the community had free access to blood pressure and blood sugar tests during the fair.
She said some illnesses are not given the same priority as HIV/AIDS, hence they wanted to look at health holistically. She said lifestyle "matters and what one eats is important". She said people should eat traditional food because it is healthier and cheaper than junk food.
Mbongwe said that the fair, which encompasses child safety, looks at ways of protecting children in care centres. She said other incidents are those of children being admitted to the hospital because they had drunk paraffin from soft drink bottles that were not properly stored. In this regard, the fair sought to advise parents on how to store non-consumables.
Mbongwe said she was happy with the public's turnout and interest. Interviewed, Nonofo Babusi, 26, from Block 8, said she was most intrigued by the stall that encouraged non-smoking. "I will tell others that there is a group that encourages people to stop smoking," she said.
Professor Kiran Bhagat, from the Cardiac Clinic, said the fair was "an idea whose time has come". He noted that it is a national imperative to look at every aspect of health.
He laid emphasis on the need to invest on children and keeping them healthy. Bhagat said a recent survey in Britain revealed that 40 percent of children are overweight. He said a child adds 10 to 12 percent weight whilst watching television. He said it is important to switch off the television while eating.
Bhagat said with both parents working these days, children are fed dinner after 19 hours, which is late. "By the time morning comes the child does not want to eat breakfast and rushes to the tuck shop around 09 hours to buy crisps. He becomes hyperactive and then sleepy and tired and eats junk to replenish the sugar," he warned.
Bhagat said that it is important for a child to eat a large breakfast and fewer quantities of balanced lunch and dinner. He emphasised eating foods in their more natural state and said that Japanese live longer because that is what they do.
Second year Bachelor of Science student Oteng Legadiko, said they made a research into common diseases in Botswana, hence their stall looked at breast and cervix cancer. He said most people who visited the pavilion were interested in their course, and asked questions about how to diagnose cancer and where they could get the necessary help.
Babili Bukha and Lauretha Ugokwe from the Environmental Health class said they discussed issues of child safety and how to keep medication away from children. "We teach the public about the importance of buying toys that are lead-free and that they should not leave tins of paints at the disposal of children," Bukha said.
Meanwhile, Odirile Thamage said that the fair would help raise awareness about the Stop Smoking Support Group. "We would also like to recruit members to our society and raise funds through a sponsored walk, to be able to get a toll free centre and have our own office," he said.
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The fair had environmental health, pre-medicine, nursing, pre-pharmacy students in an effort to nurture contact among themselves, the health professionals and the general public.
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