ArOY Health Campaign: NYSC hosts further meetings with the OCI Foundation and the Nigerian Cancer Society (Abuja, Nigeria 07/06/2021)

08 Jun 2021 ArOY Health Campaign: NYSC hosts further meetings with the OCI Foundation and the Nigerian Cancer Society (Abuja, Nigeria 07/06/2021)

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Monday, June 7th, 2021: The OCI Foundation was again hosted by Alhaji Abdulrazaq Salawu, the Director of Community Services (CDS) with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). This was at the NYSCs National Headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. This time, the OCI Foundation’s new partners, the National Cancer Society, NCS, who will be joining the NYSC-OCI Foundation partnership, was represented at the meeting.

The OCI Foundation was represented by its Head of Advocacy, Mr Sam Agwa, the National Champion (Rev Dr Austin Epunam), its Networking Manager (Alhaji Abdullahi Rufai), and its Social Liaison Officer (Mr Luter Ikyobo).

The NCS was represented by its National president, Dr Adamu Al-Hassan Umar, along with its Treasurer (Ms Ogechi Irechukwu). Other members of the NYSCs Department of Community Services were also in attendance.

The NYSC is an official partner of the OCI Foundation in the roll out of the Arm Our Youths (ArOY) anti-cancer health initiative, and a joint national launch of the partnership is expected by February 2022.

The meeting was one of the activities towards the planning of a the planned roll-out, which is being expected in the last quarter of 2021. It was originally slated for May 2020, but had to be postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lock-downs.

Some pictures from the meeting of June 6th, 2021.

Video clip from the meeting . . . .

It should be noted that the ArOY Campaign is a novel, Harvard-endorsed, WHO-supported, and evidence-based health promotion initiative of the OCI Foundation, which is being introduced across all senior secondary schools in Nigeria as a way of tackling breast and cervical cancers. In September 2019, it was rolled out across all the 261 senior secondary schools in Anambra State of Nigeria, and a similar event, scheduled for Benue State in May 2020, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All of Nigeria’s 36 states (and the FCT) are expected to benefit from the ArOY campaign on or before the end of 2025, and the ongoing consultations are part of this whole process.

The ArOY Health Campaign has the support of the, NextGenU.org (the World’s first online University), the United States Centers for Disease Control (U.S. CDC) and the University of British Columbia, Canada (ranked 45^th in the world, according to the 2021 QS World University Ranking). Experts from these institutions, along with others from the University of Saskatchewan (Canada) and the Griffith University (Australia), will work with the OCI Foundation and the Nigerian Government on the roll-out, implementation and monitoring of the ArOY project. In addition, the prestigious Harvard Medical School, USA, of which Dr Chris Ifediora (the Founder of the OCI Foundation) is an Alumnus of, had earlier endorsed the Campaign, and made significant contributions to the Campaign’s design ahead of its roll out in Anambra State last year.

A number of other reputable Nigerian institutions partnering the OCI Foundation on this initiative include the Innoson Group, the NYSC (National Office), the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs (Nigeria), Nigeria’s National Orientation Agency (NOA), the Federal Ministry of Health (Nigeria), Nollywood Nigeria, the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, the Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS), Silk Road Restaurant (Abuja), and the Post Primary Schools Service Commission, PPSSC (Anambra state), among others.