Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Charles Ogili, Conakry, Republic of Guinea
Hon. (Rev.) Samuel Enders, a member of the ECOWAS Parliament Joint Committee, has advocated for the involvement of ECOWAS Parliamentarians to boost subregional healthcare education.
Hon. Enders spoke on the sidelines of the delocalised meeting of the Joint Committee on Health/Education, Science and Culture/Telecommunications and Information Technology/Industry and Private Sector in Conakry, the Republic of Guinea.
According to Enders, a first time ECOWAS Parliamentarian from Liberia, Parliamentarians should get directly involved in the dissemination of health education in their various countries by influencing policies that will enable vital information on health to be disseminated to communities at the local government levels, especially the hard to reach areas.
His words: “We, the lawmakers or Parliamentarians, should get directly involved locally in our various districts, in our various countries to spread the words of what ECOWAS is doing and to find a way that we can have policies made in our various countries and source funding to be more effective in preventing death that is preventable, bring some healthcare ideas to our countries that will help to really save lives and allow West Africans to live longer life “.
Enders, welcomed and praised the idea of the Joint Committee of ECOWAS Parliament’s delocalised meeting in Conakry, Guinea, with emphasis on health and education as well as the visitation to health institutions in Conakry, but said he would have loved the visitations to be more interactive. This, he said, would have enabled Parliamentarians to know what Conakry or Guinea has benefited from ECOWAS.
He further stated that the presence of ECOWAS Parliamentarians in Conakry would enable critical assessment of the major problems that face the health sector in Guinea, thereby enabling the Parliamentarians to proffer remedies and proper intervention to the situation.
He stressed that for Parliamentarians to disseminate the necessary health information, they need to be empowered through proper funding.
He said: “I think, first of all, we need to disseminate the information and to disseminate the information, Parliamentarians need to be empowered. We are in need of soft funding from ECOWAS and also locally to enable radio programmes and also to get local doctors involved. People need to understand the importance of prevention and the importance of preventing the spread of diseases like malaria. People need to be educated and conscientized. They need to be sensitised to wash their hands and stay healthy. We can also have clubs in our various schools to help disseminate the information, conscientise our students about health, health ideas, and health choices, good exercises, what you eat is important. I think if we can do that with ECOWAS backing, if we can bridge the gap, that would be okay. ”
He also advocated for the involvement of the ECOWAS Youths in the health education dissemination to enable ECOWAS to breed a new generation of youths who are properly oriented healthwise to carry the touch of subregional healthcare advocacy.
Enders further stressed need for the Parliamentarians to be action-oriented with their advocacy by talking less and doing more, thereby creating identifiable footprint on the ground through radio programmes and sports club, sports gym that will make their presence felt and their message properly disseminated to the rural people. He also lauded the people and government of the Republic of Guinea as well as their Parliamentarians in ECOWAS Parliament for their hospitality in hosting the delocalised meeting.
Hon. (Rev.) Samuel Enders is a second term parliamentarian in the Parliament of the Republic of Liberia. He has done a first term of six years and is on his second term of another six years. He served as a member of the education committee. He is a Co Chairman on State owned Enterprises Committee, Co-Chairman on executive Committee as well as Caucus Chairman from the Montserrado County. He run a school in Liberia called the African Dream Academy, which is the largest private high school in the Republic of Liberia, it is tuition free. He also run the only free children’s hospital in Liberia (0-6yrs) is free.
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