By Oladele Eniola
Badagry (Lagos State) – Mrs Augusta Aguinede, Executive Director of the Augusta Foundation, an NGO, said in Badagry on Friday that most residents in the rural areas of the country lacked basic healthcare awareness.
Aguinede made the remark in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Badagry, Lagos State.
She said that the lack of awareness has affected the health of people such areas.
“Many people who reside in the rural areas lack certain health awareness and it has caused many health challenges for them.
“So many illnesses and diseases can be prevented with proper awareness but you find that the former and latter is what kills many of such rural dwellers because they are not aware of certain things and their ignorance constitutes a big problem.
“Symptoms of frequent headaches could be as a result of high blood pressure but most rural dwellers would ignore such signposts and use herbs popularly known as agbo to suppress such headaches.
“People in such areas should be able to know what to eat and drink and just when it is appropriate to do so, as such awareness will go a long way to improve their health.
“So it is really important that we have deliberate healthcare awareness programmes for people in the rural areas,’’ she said.
“Aguinede noted that the empowerment of women was essential in every society.
“When you empower a single woman, you have empowered an entire nation, so emphasis must be laid on this.
“Women should be empowered with different tools as this would help in improving the lives of people around them and also serve as a way to alienate poverty.
“It is also important that women should not depend on their husbands for their daily needs, but they must be encouraged to learn to engage themselves in things that would generate income for them.
“The government can no longer do everything for us, so people must learn how to begin to do certain things out something for themselves as this would make the society a better place for all,’’ she added. (NAN)