FATSSSA WEEK DAY 2: HEALTH DAY AND BASKETBALL FINALS
The second day of the FATSSSA week was the health day and the theme for the day was optimal wellbeing. The day was dedicated to educating and creating awareness in students about the importance of taking care of their physical health and mental wellbeing. The event took place in the Small Lecture Theatre of the faculty and officially started by 10:37am. The programs for the day included First Aid Training by the Red Cross Association, Substance Abuse Education by Dr Abel Obosi, Sexuality and Sexual Health BY Dr Moji Ajayi, Mental Health Education and Assessment by the Asido Campus network and also a HIV counselling and Testing.
The first program of the day was the First Aid Training by the red cross society, a humanitarian organization and the session was aimed at teaching students the basic techniques needed to help a person in danger before the arrival of a trained medical personnel. Use of non-verbal communication cues, how to be quick and careful when handling the victim, how to be resourceful with what you have when with the victim, the level of priority to handle victims in the case that there is more than one victim. There was also a mini debate about whether a bad first aid is better than no first aid and vice versa.
The substance abuse program that was taken had its main theme as “The power of NO as a saving grace”. As students we face a lot of peer pressure to do certain things that we may not like to do but the power to stand our ground and say no will save from dangerous situations. Various hard drugs that are commonly abused by youths were listed. The effects of these drugs on the body were also listed. Alcohol abuse and its dangerous effects were also listed. The withdrawal symptoms from addiction to these substances were also discussed.
The Sexuality and Sexual Health was the third program, which was held by Dr Moji Ajayi. She defined sex as the biological characteristics that make one unique as male or female and sexuality as a function of physiology and anatomy. According to her, themes that used to considered mental illnesses, are now norms, with the example of homosexuality and some other gender nuances. Body image consciousness was explained alongside self-concept and the importance of assertiveness in choosing and maintaining ‘purpose-driving’ relationships, both platonic and non-platonic ones.
The fourth program was the mental health awareness program by the Asido Campus Network. The talk was designed to teach students the different ways that they could handle stress amd stressful situations. They sighted instances that were commonly found to stress students out and provided solutions that were specific to the situations. They also encouraged students to seek help whenever they feel like they need it, either from professionals or their friends, sighting the importance of having quality friendship groups. They also informed students that a mental health assessment was available for them after the talk.
The last program for the health day was the HIV counseling by HACEY Institute where students were educated about HIV, AIDS, the transmission routes and symptoms. Some transmission routes mentioned were via blood, mother-to-child during labour and breastfeeding, vagina discharge and semen. Students were advised to abstain from unprotected and dangerous sexual practices. New things like PREP (pre-exposure propylaxis) to prevent the virus, PEP (post-exposure propylaxis) which should be taken within 72 hours after exposure to HIV virus and ART (anti-retroviral drugs) taken to reduce viral loads, were learnt. Some myths about HIV/AIDS were debunked like women living with the virus cannot birth healthy children. In the University of Ibadan, the Youth Friendly Centre, behind the Zoological Garden, provides PREP, PEP, free HIV testing and ART.
Awards were presented to HAYCEY Institute, ASIDO Foundation and The Students’ Help Centre, FATSSSA by Dr Akinyemi, Dr Lafenwa and the FATSSSA President respectively. There was the Questions and Answers segment where students won airtime and the program was ended with a closing remark by the Association’s Vice President.
After the health talks were concluded, free HIV testing was made available for the students courtesy of the HACEY institute. Students were tested and given medical counselling afterwards and the services were all free. There was also a free mental health assessment by the ASIDO campus network, where students were given a questionnaire to fill in order to assess their mental states. Then they were assessed based on the responses they gave on the questionnaire and given free counselling. They also encouraged students to feel free to visit the social works division at the JAJA clinic if there is ever a need to.
A basketball game was played yesterday at the Awo Court and it was between the department of political science and the department of sociology. The game kick started a little after two o clock. The game was highly competitive and entertaining to watch. At the end of the game, the department of sociology had managed to score a total of 44 points and the department of political science had managed to score a total of 66 points emerging as the winners of the game. The political science players have once again remained undefeated.
By the end of the day, students of the Faculty of The Social Sciences had gathered enough knowledge on how to take care of their health both mentally and physically. This is appropriate since FATSSSAites would soon be approaching the examination season, where students may intentionally or unintentionally neglect their health. They also got to relax and unwind as they watched an entertaining game of basketball.
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