Radio Emmanuel has on Thursday and Friday conducted massive awareness on how to prevent health issues in Kapoeta State.
The awareness aims at enlightening local communities on how they can avert common diseases in the state.
It attracted hundred communities’ leaders including chiefs, youth, women, teachers and top health officials in Kapoeta State.
The program implemented by Radio Emmanuel is supported by Foundation Caritas Luxemburg.
This is an effort of Radio Emmanuel to reach the grassroots as means of health campaign to interact with local communities, so as to understand the most common diseases affecting them, what cause and how to prevent infections.
Lillian Ochoo, Radio Emmanuel 89 FM Manager, says the station organizes the interactions to get information that will be broadcast during health programs.
It is important for health experts to give right information for the public to deal with preventable infections, she notes.
‘Radio Emmanuel came from Torit to visit people of Kapoeta because we cover both Kapoeta and Torit State. What brought us here is to get community interaction on preventive health and we are saying we are not health experts, we are reporters but we will be collecting information from Kapoeta and broadcast and disseminate such information’, explains the manager.
Joseph Lokitela, head chief in Katiko Payam, Katiko County in Kapoeta State, says the awareness will now help him disseminate the message to his people in villages.
He says his people will now adhere to health principles by ensuring good hygiene and prevent common diseases.
‘My name is Joseph Lokitela, head chief of Katiko Payam. The training will help people because of many diseases in the villages there. Such information will be taken there to be shared to everybody in the village. As a chief I have the power of the whole village if I go there to the village I will gather everybody and talk to them on preventive health. There are many diseases, how to prevent them like this’ the chief affirmed.
Karar Allahjabu Mursal, a resident in Kapoeta town acknowledges that the preventive health awareness program will save the lives in the area.
He says majority will now go for medical help instead of traditional witchcraft which he says has cost many lives.
‘This will help to save lives of the common citizens in terms of the many diseases like cholera, malaria, hepatitis this is what we get in this campaign. Sometimes someone is sick and they go and make several cuts in the abdomen this will not do anything and also they take to witchcraft to treat, but it is a lie it will not do anything, they will bring a goat to be given to people and they will eat, this is not good. The hospital is where we get all the treatment including drugs’, the resident testified.
Meanwhile Director-General in Kapoeta State Ministry of Health and Environment Shabil Noah appreciates Radio Emmanuel for the initiative.
He says is the first of its kind Kapoeta State witnessed preventive health awareness program that brought different groups of people together to save lives.
‘I appreciate Radio Emmanuel and we are also very privilege to have this training for the message to be given to all the communities within Kapoeta South County. We selected this team because we need the message to reach to all the communities from the grassroots’ Noah says.
He adds that ‘we invited all the chiefs so that they are the right people to pass these messages to all the people within their communities and the community mobilizers who are working like the youth, the women groups so that they pass the message to where ever the women gather about preventive health’.
Malaria, Typhoid, Hepatitis B among other infections and recently measles outbreak in Chucukudum are the most common diseases the campaign targets.
It is believed that prevention is better than cure and so the local leaders are expected to take the message to masses in their villages.