The Nursing Students Association (NUSA) of UCC as part of their week celebration has embarked on a health outreach to the Bronyibima community near Elmina. The Bronyibima community was selected by the association to ascertain whether diseases and disease-causing agents there were similar to conditions in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The outreach programme, which was organised in conjunction with visiting students and faculty from the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in the United States of America, was aimed at providing education, counseling and screening for some medical conditions to the community. The collaboration is an initiative between the Department of Public Health of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, UCC and GVSU Public Health Nursing Study Abroad Programme. It began in 2013 with the aim of establishing and improving links and partnership with local and international collaborators in the area of Public Health. The Study Abroad Programme also seeks to provide both students and faculty the opportunity to acquire first-hand experiences of the way health care is provided in their host countries. Community members were educated on some disease conditions like Cholera, Malaria and Sexually Transmitted Infections. Again, members of the community were screened for eye diseases, blood sugar, malaria as well as body mass index (BMI). The facilitators also took the opportunity to educate the people on mental health concerns. “People in this community seem not be aware or have misconceptions about issues of mental illness or health”, a member of Health committee, Francis Ayim noted. Those who were found with some disease conditions were given drugs. Others were provided with mosquito nets to help prevent malaria infestation. Addressing the gathering, an Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Miss. Theodora Dedo Azu asked them to observe healthy lifestyles and practices to prolong their lives. She advised both males and females to eschew excessive alcohol intake since ramifications of that habit were serious. Miss. Azu entreated them to take in lot of water, exercise regularly to reduce both their weights and the incidence of illness or becoming hypertensive. This, she said would prevent them from getting heart and other related diseases.
