ArOY Health Campaign on Breast and Cervical Cancers (Pics and Video): OCI Foundation and NOA talk to secondary school students in Abuja, Nigeria” (4/6/2021)

FRIDAY, JUNE 4TH, 2021: The OCI Foundation, along with her official partners, Nigeria’s National Orientation Agency (NOA) visited senior secondary students from the Redeemers Private Secondary School, Lugbe, Abuja, Nigeria. Mrs Ruth OGUN, a Director with the NOA, chaired the event.

At the occasion, the OCI Foundation, which was led by its Social and Entertainment Liaison Officer, Luter IKYOBO, distributed information flyers and delivered talks on  breast and cervical cancer preventive strategies. The OCI Foundation’s talk was delivered by Vivian OBINWA, a member of its Advocacy Team.

It should be recalled that the NOA is an official partner of the OCI Foundation, and that the two bodies signed an MOU on March the 9th, 2021. Details of that ceremony, which was held at the NOAs Headquarters in Abuja, can be found HERE.

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).