I would like to thank the organizers of this convention for this opportunity to share my thoughts on the issue of health services and the state of health of the people of Edo State so that we may proffer solutions on how the situation can be improved. As more than one speaker is dealing with the issue of health, I would try to limit myself to the health of women and children and occasionally dabble into health for all.
The WHO’s Constitution defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Let us limit ourselves to the aspect that states “social well-being’’ What is social well-being?
The synonyms for social include collective, shared, communal, community, societal, and common. Whereas the synonyms for well-being include security, safety, health, comfort, and happiness.
Social well-being therefore implies collective, communal, or community safety or security or health or comfort. You know, and I know and we all know that these are rare features amongst our people, especially our women and children in Edo State and Nigeria.
Good health is a major resource for social, economic, and personal development and an important dimension of quality of life. Good health can be favored by political and economic policies, social, cultural, and environmental, as well as behavioral and biological factors.
The reverse is also true. If economic, social, and political policies are poorly implemented or non-implementation can be harmful to people’s health. The numerous civil wars in sub-Saharan Africa, poor governance of the people, selfish and inoperable governmental policies, and nonpayment of salaries, all add to the woes of the poor state of health of our people. (more…)