April 2020

SPEAK WEDNESDAY – GENDER THEORIES (PART ONE)

Gender, Uncategorized, Women /

 

Simone de Beauvior’s gender theory – One is not born a woman, one becomes one, differentiates sex from gender.  This theory believes that gender is an aspect of identity gradually acquired. Everything we are is as a result of choices and what we build from our own resources and those which society gives us. We don’t only create our own values, we create ourselves.

It is said that sometimes, it is hard to become a woman because of the struggle for human freedom in the apparently disadvantaged female body. De Beauvoir argues that it is not the biological condition of women per se that constitutes a handicap: it is how a woman construes this condition that renders it positive or negative.

Becoming a woman takes conscious efforts and deliberate actions. What feminist philosophers like de Beauvoir aim to achieve is to open the space for that freedom to flourish. To her, gender was decided by the way parents treated and raised their children. Hence, gender identity is decided very early in life. This means that a girl is built up emotionally as the weaker sex, not to have a voice and a decision when she is with her “Male folks”, to always live as an assistant rather than a leader, not to dare or have a dream greater than a male.

This theory from Simone de Beauvior serves as a reminder that we are first human before gender, creating awareness so that we can change certain things about our societies for the better. It also calls attention to the negative effects of the way women are treated differently in the society.

Join us next week on Speak Wednesday for more gender theories.

#Gender #Womeninspire #Genderinequality.

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MONDAY HEALTH BURST – PROPER HYGIENE AND SANITATION

Health, Hygiene, Sanitation, Uncategorized, WHO /

MONDAY HEALTH BURST – PROPER HYGIENE AND SANITATION:

Simply put, hygiene is the personal practices we imbibe that contribute to healthy living like hand washing, hair trimming and keeping nails short and clean, bathing, brushing of teeth morning and evening, among others. Sanitation on the other hand, is the actions and use of tools we combine towards keeping our environment clean, safe and healthy. These include effective drainage and proper waste disposal, how we prepare food, maintain toilet facilities and washing stations.
According to WHO, these practices are important towards the availability of clean water, combating Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTP) like helminths via contaminated soil and water, lymphatic filariasis which affects 1 billion of the world’s poorest people in about 149 countries. It includes prevention of water borne diseases like diarrhoea, cholera and breeding of organisms that cause malaria and onchocerciasis.
Globally, 2.4 billion people lack access to proper toilet facilities, hence, the high rate of open defecation. Over 946 million people worldwide practice open defecation according to a WHO report, leading to contamination of the soil and nearby water bodies, often resulting in diseases affecting communities.
To ensure we understand the scope and scale of the need for hygiene and sanitation, we need to start with us as individuals, making sure we imbibe hygienic practices and sanitize our environment by disposing waste properly, recycling, cleaning of our homes and surroundings, culminating in the next step of community led sanitation. Communities can provide proper latrines and waste disposal means which is an important part of sanitation and can drastically reduce diseases in the communities.
To help build and maintain a healthy community and personal health, especially in this prevailing pandemic, we must embrace proper hygiene and sanitation.
#HygieneAndSanitation #MondayHealthBurst #Stayhome #Staysafe

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WORLD MALARIA DAY 2020

COVID-19, Health, Special Events, Uncategorized, WHO /

WORLD MALARIA DAY 2020: ZERO MALARIA STARTS WITH ME:

“From 2000 to 2015, several countries made tremendous progress in the fight against malaria. Globally, malaria deaths fell by more than 50%. Seventeen countries eliminated malaria, and six were certified by the WHO as malaria-free”. This exceptional progress demonstrated that malaria elimination is achievable.

Despite the progress made in the fight against malaria, half of the world population is still at risk of this devastating disease. According to WHO’s World Malaria Report for 2019, the scourge of malaria continues to strike hardest against pregnant women and young children in Africa. Scaling up efforts to reduce cases and deaths among these two populations would provide significant boost in the fight against malaria.

With the present Covid-19 pandemic concerns taking the front line, there is need to ensure that efforts and progress gained in the fight against malaria are not lost and there is continued testing and treatment of malaria cases even within this pandemic. WHO warned on Thursday, April 23, that the number of deaths caused by malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa could double to 769,000 this year, as efforts to curb the disease are disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is essential that we keep to the guidelines of cleaning the environment and dispensing stagnant waters around homes, ensuring proper covering of openings, fumigate regularly, appropriate clothing especially for children at night and most importantly the use of insecticide treated mosquito net. In as much as we enjoin everyone to stay at home, never hesitate to seek medical help if fever occurs.

Happy World Malaria Day!

#StaySafe #WMD2020

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SPEAK WEDNESDAY – WOMEN PARTICIPATION IN SPORTS

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WOMEN PARTICIPATION IN SPORTS – LOCKDOWN PRESENTING OPPORTUNITY FOR INDOOR AND CONTROLLED OUTDOOR SPORTS

The number of women who currently participate in sports or who closely follow sporting events is steadily increasing, despite the traditional believe that women are not allowed to participate in games exclusively for men.
On 19 April 1967, Kathrine Switzer made history by circumventing the ban that prevented women from competing in a marathon. She also did this in the oldest marathon in the world — the Boston Marathon. She did not just run it, she finished it with a time of 4 hours and 20 minutes despite the organizers’ boycott.

Times have changed, and the International Olympic committee (IOC) has played an important role in establishing a positive trend to enhance women’s participation in sports.
Over the last 30 years, the IOC has been advocating for the participation of women at all levels, encouraging National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and International Federations (IFs) to enhance the presence of women in sports at all levels.

The success of the IOC Women in Sports Policy is noticeable in terms of women’s participation in the games. The number of women competing at the games has increased significantly over the last 30 years – from 26.1 percent at Seoul 1988 to a record of 45.2 per cent at Rio 2016. In October 2018, the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Buenos Aires 2018 was the first fully gender balanced Olympic event ever.

Women have over the years carved a niche in the sport arena. There can’t be mention of some sports without the big-name women players.

Serena Williams has taken it upon herself to see that the U.S. remains an international force to be reckoned with in tennis. She has won 13 individual Grand Slams as at 2014—not to mention eight doubles Grand Slams and three Olympic gold medals.
Ronda Rousey has emerged as one of the biggest stars in MMA. Russian tennis pro Maria Sharapova is not just one of the top women sports, she is in the conversation about who rules the sport. NASCAR driver Danica Patrick is a polarizing figure in the sports world.

Nigeria is not left behind as Blessing Okagbare is a light bearer in the athletic world. Loveliness Obiji paralympic gold medalist is also a force to reckon with, Asisat Oshoala (Football), Funke Oshonaike (Table Tennis), just to mention but a few.

According to the Women and Sports report, women who participate in sporting activities at school have a 76% chance of remaining interested in sports for the rest of their lives. So, we need to encourage the children and wards to give it their best shot.

Women are known to put in their best in their choice career, so the world must change her mindset. The present lockdown presents opportunity for indoor and controlled outdoor sports. It is important now more than ever to discover new passion, because sport has long since ceased to be a man’s game.
#EndInequailtyinsport #Womeninspire #Womeninsport.

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MONDAY HEALTH BURST- World immunization day

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Vaccines are a less potent version of the disease they aim to fight against. There are very important because when one has an immune system prepped to identify and fight a disease, the possibility of contacting the disease is highly mitigated. Even after having direct contact with an infected person. 

There are various types of vaccines, but the main two are; live attenuated and inactivated vaccines. Like the names imply, Live attenuated means that a weakened version of the disease causing organism is prepared and used to create immunity, which can confer a life time immunity to the disease. While Inactivated is the killed disease causing organism used to give immunity. Unlike the live attenuated, inactivated vaccines do not confer life immunity and requests booster shots to keep immunity up.
Other types of vaccines involve using of components to the disease causing organism. Like using a protein or toxin to help the immune system target the specific component on the organism in a way to fight off the disease.

Vaccines have helped save millions of lives by preventing childhood illnesses and curbing epidemics and pandemics all over the world. With continued work on creation of vaccines, the present Covid-19 pandemic will soon be highly mitigated.
Until then, remember to take responsibility by practicing the hygiene rules and obeying set down rules from World Health Organisation and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
#StayhomeStaysafe
#VaccinesWorkforAll
#WorldImmunizationWeek

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SPEAK WEDNESDAY

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Welcome to another episode of Speak Wednesday.

Domestic violence has become an everyday phenomenon around the world. It is an act of physical, verbal or emotional intimidation that has become an epidemic. Domestic violence is not new to the Nigerian society. Recently, we have witnessed murder and violence across religion, age, gender, ethnic groups and social classes.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of a “horrifying global surge” in domestic violence during the coronavirus crisis and urged governments to step up efforts to prevent such.
Lagos state government earlier announced some emergency helplines for domestic violence victims at the onslaught of the lockdown because it is perceived that with couples indoor having little or nothing to do, there is bound to be misunderstanding which when not well managed, can lead to violence.
Let us join hands to prevent violence everywhere as we work collectively towards ending Covid-19. As we stay at home, let us endeavour to stay safe. Speak up when there is the need to do so.
#StayAtHomeAndStaySafe #SayNoToDomesticViolence

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Health workers day 2020

MONDAY HEALTH BURST- Health Workers

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2,000 medical doctors leave Nigeria yearly' | The Guardian Nigeria ...

 

World Health Organization (WHO) has set the year 2020 as the international year of nurses and midwives. Nurses and midwives play a vital role in providing health services and with the present pandemic, we are ever grateful to have these professionals on the field of action. Today, we acknowledge and appreciate the work of nurses in caring for those who have been infected with the novel corona virus and other severe health related cases, the midwives caring for the pregnant women, doctors, physiotherapists, pathologists, microbiologists and many others who are at the frontline helping to curb COVID-19 pandemic and other diseases. To those that have lost the battle to the disease in the wake of their work, losing their families as a result of isolation and quarantine, we can’t thank you enough.
It is time for everyone to be responsible too

  • Do not panic or fret.
  • Keep to the recommendations of serial hand washing, use of sanitizers, refrain from touching nose, mouth and eyes.
  • Do not overwhelm those at the frontline with easily treated at home cases. The hospital is not safe for you this period either.
  • Stay at home for them as those at the frontline continue to work to control this menace from spreading further.

Stay safe everyone!

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MONDAY HEALTH BURST

Uncategorized /

 

WHO | Health workforce - Migration

 

World Health Organization (WHO) has set the year 2020 as the international year of nurses and midwives. Nurses and midwives play a vital role in providing health services and with the present pandemic, we are ever grateful to have these professionals on the field of action. Today, we acknowledge and appreciate the work of nurses in caring for those who have been infected with the novel corona virus and other severe health related cases, the midwives caring for the pregnant women, doctors, physiotherapists, pathologists, microbiologists and many others who are at the frontline helping to curb COVID-19 pandemic and other diseases. To those that have lost the battle to the disease in the wake of their work, losing their families as a result of isolation and quarantine, we can’t thank you enough.
It is time for everyone to be responsible too:
– Do not panic or fret. Always provide in anyway possible for the nurses and doctors on a 24 or 48hr shift, unable to get the much needed time for self care.
– Keep to the recommendations of serial hand washing, use of sanitizers, refrain from touching nose, mouth and eyes.
– Do not overwhelm those at the frontline with easily treated at home cases. The hospital is not safe for you this period either.
– Stay at home for them as those at the frontline continue to work to control this menace from spreading further.
Stay safe everyone!

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