Future Leaders STEM and Mentorship, a non-profit under the leadership of Dr Abigail Wilson and committed to creating early awareness on the rising epidemic diabetes, hypertension, kidney diseases and high cholesterol in Ghana, provided early education awareness on these epidemics at the Kumasi Anglican SHS and KNUST SHS on Thursday November 17 and Friday November 18 respectively.
The awareness programme, the first of its kind in High Schools in Ghana, was dubbed “Health is Wealth” was organized by FLSMP in collaboration with the Ghana Pharmaceutical Students Federation. An estimated 5500 students were impacted.
Prevention they say is better and cheaper than cure. Empowered and educated minds on these chronic diseases will help students at an early age understand how local diet and lifestyle can contribute to their overall wellness and wellbeing.
According to NIH (National Institute of Health), more than one in four adults in Ghana have hypertension and 6% of Ghana’s population has diabetes. These two diseases are major culprits when it comes to kidney diseases.
It’s therefore imperative that every high school student at an early age is provided with the basics when it comes to knowledge on these diseases’ states. They must know and understand the causes and prevention of diabetes, hypertension, and kidney diseases. This is the exact service FLSMP and our partners provided last Thursday and Friday.
Not very many people are able to connect that carbs turn into sugar in the blood stream and when not consumed in moderation can put one at risk for diabetes. Many people assume diabetes comes from candy and soft drinks alone, without knowing fufu, white rice, kenkey all contain carbs that
turn into sugar in the blood and when not consumed in moderation and without healthy lifestyle such as regular exercises can put one at risk for developing diabetes.
The team also provided leadership and Mentorship sessions for the students to empower, inspire, and innovate.
Present at the event was Project lead Daniel Charway who emphasized the need to replicate the program across high schools in Ghana and rest of Africa.
As a UN SDG 3 AND 4 advocate organization, we leverage cross-sector and industry collaborations.
FLSMP is dynamically affianced in developing and delivering strategies that remove barriers and ensure more extensive access to FLSMP programs so that all high school students can participate.
