The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on Nigerians to get health information from only verified sources to avoid misinformation.
WHO Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Pavel Ursu made the call on Tuesday after a walk to commemorate this year’s World Health Day in Abuja.
Ursu explained that the World Health Day was marked on the 7th of April every year to commemorate the day WHO was established and to enlighten people about their health.
“7th of April is the World Health Day. Why 7th of April? Because the WHO was established on 7th of April 1946.Today’s topic is ‘Together, for health, we stand with science’. Today we celebrate not only the World Health Day as such, but also we celebrate the major achievements in human health and the achievements which are grounded on science. What we have today in terms of the disease control, in terms of the lives saved, is due to the science and due to the fact that the science can be translated into health-saving interventions.
“The way we started today with the health walk is very important. It’s a message to everyone. The physical exercise, the walks, they are also contributing to our health. And there is a lot of scientific confirmation of the fact that physical exercise is saving lives, it’s reducing the risks for health”, he said.
The WHO Representative further stated that the day was an opportunity to convey the message about the relevance of science and the need to patronise verified sources for information:
“We as a people have to orient ourselves in the right channel of information and be responsible users of the information. Health literacy also saves lives.
“And it’s very important to make sure that the information we consume is coming from the right sources. So, being here in the campus of the Federal Ministry of Health, together with the colleagues of WHO, with the health fellows, a lot of people who put a lot of efforts to reach that level of being able to understand health information and being able to convey the information to people, to communities. I think it’s very important to be very responsible when we share that information and we convey the information to communities”, he said.
Accoding to Ursu, today’s challenges linked to immunization, to diseases, to maternal and child health, requires even more interventions linked to science, however, progress would not be achieved with misinformation.
“I would like to also mention that in today’s world, the information about health sometimes is confusing. There are too many channels. We are consuming that information from different influencers, from different channels, and not all the information is rigorous enough in terms of the evidence.
“So I’d like really to call for Nigerians to be responsible consumers of the information, making sure that they can assess the source of every single advice, making sure that advice comes from a trusted source. That is very important. We also call for people to trust the science, to follow the advice, the scientific advice, because this is life-saving”, he said.
Speaking further, the WHO Representative added: “What we achieved today as a world, what we achieved today in Nigeria, is also significantly grounded on the scientific evidence. Therefore, if you stay with science, if we are together for health, we will be able to achieve much better health outcomes.
“So I would like really to start this day by saying that health is central for development, health is central for any society, and by really following the scientific advice in what we do and how we position ourselves, this can really help us advance health and save many lives”.
Similarly, the Director, Department of Health Planning, Research, and Statistics, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Kamil Shoretire reiterated that information on health should be properly scrutinised before disseminating to the public.
