By: Jones Anlimah
The Fred Newtown Binka School of Public Health of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, UHAS, has organized a ‘What do you know’ quiz competition on malaria.
The event was aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of the disease, which affects millions of people worldwide.
The quiz was also part of activities lined up by the school to commemorate this year’s world Malaria Day.
The quiz was opened to students and members of the public who were interested in learning more about Malaria.
Participants were drawn from seven schools within the University of Health and Allied Sciences. It included Fred Newton Binka School of Public Health, School Of Pharmacy, School Of Medicine and School of Allied Health Sciences.
The rest were School Of Nursing And Midwifery, School of Biomedical Sciences and School of Sports and Exercise.
The participants were quizzed on a variety of topics related to Malaria, including its causes, symptoms, and treatment. The questions were designed to be challenging, but also informative, allowing participants and all present to learn about Malaria in a fun and engaging way.
At the end of the competition, the Fred Binka School of Public Health came first while School Of Pharmacy took the second spot with School Of Medicine taking the third place.
In an interview with GBC NEWS, a Clinical Psychologist and a Counsellor at the Fred Binka School of Public Health Counseling Unit, Dr. Mary Akua Ampomah, said the event was part of the school’s advocacy to help trickle down information on Malaria in efforts to enable people make informed choices to help eliminate the disease from the country.
“We did this ‘what do you’ competition to ensure people have the right knowledge or information when it comes to malaria because we are looking at Malaria elimination”, she added.
Dr. Ampomah also highlighted the importance of events like this, in raising awareness about the disease and encouraged people to take proactive steps to protect themselves against the disease.
“Even though we are looking at elimination, do the people who are involved have the information to really know what symptoms and signs are before we can even talk about elimination. So i think this is knowledge acquisition that kind of gives people the right information to make the right decision because we are saying that if you have symptoms that look like Malaria, test first and that is great because again it is this taking us to the elimination stage” Dr Ampomah noted.
Malaria remains a major public health challenge, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where it is responsible for a large number of deaths every year. However, events like this what do you know provides hope that with increased awareness and understanding, stakeholders can work towards a future where malaria is no longer a threat to public health.
