Bowen Association of Medical Students’ World AIDS Day Outreach!

Hey people! For those who don’t know December 1st is World AIDS Day – and as medical students we felt admonished to ensure we play our role in HIV Awareness – especially as the IFMSA Program Coordinator for HIV AIDS & Other STIs, Modupe Ojelabi, is right in our hospital!

Our World AIDS Day Campaign consisted of hosting a free health screening for the people of Ogbomosho; we did HIV screening of course, but we also went further to have blood pressure checks and Body Mass Index so as to help spot undiagnosed hypertensive patients and know who to give lifestyle modification advice to.

BMI is calculated using your height (meters) and weight (kg) – weight/(height)^2 – or you can simply use a google BMI Calculator.

Here’s the range for knowing your BMI Status:

< 18.5 – Underweight

18.5-24.9 – Normal

25-29.9 – Overweight

30-34.9 – Obese

35+ – Morbidly Obese

We also interviewed the locals on their views on HIV AIDS & Domestic Violence, as the International day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women just recently passed, Omowunmi Adewara, a Local Officer on Human Rights and Peace was in charge of this activity.

It was a very fruitful and productive day and I’d like to urge each reader to make sure you know your HIV Status! Your local health center should have rapid tests, won’t take 5 minutes of your time to do – 5 minutes can save you a whole lot! It’s important to note that HIV AIDS is not a death sentence, HIV positive people can still live full, purposeful lives – it’s definitely not the end of the world to be positive.

Have a look at our photos!