Working to Change Community Health in Nigeria

I started my journey in public health with a goal to serve people in communities around the world. Through my studies in public health and internship with International HELP, I’m gaining experience in how to help promote health throughout whole populations by preventing diseases, improving the quality of life, and lowering medical costs.  After all, prevention is worth more than a cure.

Currently, I’m honored to be helping develop a training program for community health workers in Oba, a town in the Anambra State of Nigeria. This program focuses on training community health workers (CHWs) in Oba to address preventable diseases in the community. Community Health Workers are vital to achieving the goals of healthier communities. This particular community’s assessment revealed high rates of preventable diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, malnutrition, and stress in the community.

The leaders of Oba, under the authority of Chief Noel Ezenwa, set up a Health Committee to primarily work with our International HELP team to ensure the success of the CHW training. The Chairman of the Health Committee, Dr. Emmanuel Emelummadu, guaranteed that the committee will work with different local Church leaders to identify ideal individuals to be trained as community health workers based on specific character and personality traits. The committee is also responsible for working out the logistics before, during, and after the training.

The leaders of Oba, under the authority of Chief Noel Ezenwa, set up a Health Committee to primarily work with our International HELP team to ensure the success of the CHW training.

As we near the training date of this project, I’m finalizing a few specific items for the project, such as our implementation and monitoring plan. I’m also creating a survey and interview questions for key informants from the community and leadership. This data will be collected during and after training, then later analyzed as part of continued growth opportunities for future trainings.

I’m honored to have the opportunity to be part of a project that teaches people in Oba how to better take care of themselves and their families so that the overall health of the community improves for years to come.

– Mabel Obi, MPH Intern

I wanted to work with International HELP because this organization has a unique model that helps reduce health disparities and empower communities to be involved, take charge and ownership of health programs in their communities.