A non-governmental organization, “The Nigeria Solidarity Support Fund (NSSF), has raised awareness among the youths to seek a strengthened healthcare system by launching the ‘WeNaija Awareness to Action’ project with the support of Global Citizen.
The parley attended by news editors across Nigeria deepened the media’s understanding of the Fund’s strategic initiatives, including the “WeNaija ” campaign program, which provides an innovative platform for youth participation in advocacy for a strengthened healthcare system in Nigeria.
General Manager/Chief Executive Officer, NSSF, Dr. Fejiro Chinye-Nwoko hosted a virtual media parley recently and unveiled its 3rd WeNaija campaign to educate and rejuvenate the Nigerian youthful population to promote community participation.
According to Chinye-Nwoko, “The campaign is geared towards mobilizing, inspiring, empowering, and up-skilling Nigeria’s vibrant, creative, and tech-savvy youth population and making the youth a part of something inspirational with widespread impact.
Over 1,200 youths have already registered for our contest, and this year, we aim to exceed 2,000 registrations. Our goal is to encourage the youth to utilize their social media platforms to support important causes in Nigeria, rather than focusing solely on activities that provide no real benefit. We believe that by participating in our WeNaija campaign, they can promote health-related initiatives that will benefit the country.
On the reason for the annual youth engagement campaign, the CEO said,
According to the Population Pyramid 2023, there are an estimated 74.9 million people between the ages of 18 and 35. As an organization committed to improving health outcomes, NSSF recognized the need to take advantage of this demographic and engage it positively.
“We believe that the “WeNaija” campaign is an innovative way to get more youth between the ages of 18 and 35 involved in asking the right questions to improve their communities and hold leaders accountable. We aim to strengthen the leadership and governance of the health sector by supporting the youth to advocate on important health issues that affect them and their communities, such as the human papillomavirus virus (HPV) infection and vaccine availability “. Chineye – Nwoko
Explaining the focus on HPV, Chinye-Nwoko added, “We aim to raise awareness about the HPV vaccine and its importance in preventing cervical cancer in 2023.” WeNaija campaign will ask youths to create video content that will raise awareness and uptake of the HPV vaccine.
“The WeNaija campaign recognizes that social media is not just a tool for awareness but also a platform for civic engagement and creative expression, it will mean, actively participating in the discussions, sharing their thoughts, creating content, and becoming stakeholders in the conversation about healthcare and immunization,” Chinye-Nwoko said.
She expressed the hope that more Nigerians will understand the benefits of vaccination and take their girls ages nine to 14 years to get the HPV vaccine once the national campaign commences.
She described the lack of registration for the contest as one of the challenges affecting the projects in Nigeria. “We want participation from all 36 states; although it’s a lot of work, that would be fantastic.
“We also hope to build a vibrant community of advocates for healthcare improvement through active participation and social media conversations.”