NYSC, NCS and the OCI Foundation on the ArOY Health Campaign: Date and Venue Fixed for the one-day consultation and planning meeting/seminar for NYSC delegates from Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT, as national roll-out draws closer.

KEY POINTS

• Plans are in top gear for a one-day consultation and planning meeting/seminar for NYSC delegates from Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT.

• The seminar is part of the strategic effort to orientate all partners in the Arm Our Youths (ArOY) Health Campaign project, ahead of a grand national launch in early 2022.

• The internationally-endorsed ArOY Health Campaign is a novel, Harvard-endorsed, WHO-supported and evidence-based health promotion initiative of the OCI Foundation, which seeks to introduce anti-breast and anti-cervical cancer programs into the regular activities of the NYSCs orientation activities across Nigeria.

• This event, which will hold on Tuesday, October 19^th, 2021, at the Chelsea Hotel, Abuja, Has 2 sessions: The Opening Session and the Technical Session.

• The Seminar is being sponsored by the Onyebuchi Chris Ifediora (OCI) Foundation, an international (Nigerian-Australian) NGO committed to the promotion of Health, Education and Social Welfare for Nigerians.

• The NYSC and the Nigerian Cancer Society (NCS) are official partners to the event, which has the support of the Sweet Home Africa Humanitarian Foundation (SHAHF).

• The Director General of the NYSC, Brig. Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, is the Chief Host of the event.

• Other guests expected at the Opening Session of the event are guests from the Nigerian Presidency, the Honourable Ministers of Women Affairs, Health and Education, the House Committee Chairman on Healthcare Services, as well as the members of the “First Ladies Against Cancer, FLAC”, which is a group of 8 Nigerian first ladies united in the fight against cancers.

• Also expected are the DG of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), representatives of the WHO, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and the FCT Primary Health Care Board (FCT-PHCB). Serving corps members and officers of the NYSC from all the 36 states and the FCT, along with officers from the NYSCs National Headquarters in Abuja, will also be in attendance. The leaders of the NCS, OCI Foundation, partner NGOs, groups and individuals, will also be attending.

• The ArOY Campaign also aims to include preventive teachings into the academic curriculum of all senior secondary schools in all of Nigeria’s 36 states (and the FCT) by 2025.

PREPARATION AND MEETINGS

BACKGROUND TO THE ArOY HEALTH CAMPAIGN

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.

There are also plans to involve the Office of the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Nigeria’s Governor’s Forum (which includes the Governors of all the 36 States of Nigeria), and Nigeria’s ministries of Health, Education and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).