Jimmy Hendry Nzally, the chairman of the group, said the event was the first phase of the project which targets mainly high schools students and youth organisations.
He added: “It is important to maintain a healthy society for development to be achieved. This is an important programme to create awareness of young people on health related issues facing us. The increasingly need for creating a direct-dialogue and bringing health information at the doorsteps of people through “Health Talk” is unprecedented.”
According to him, the programme will provide young people with the opportunity to interact with health experts, to raise issues of concern on health matters, including from malaria, tuberculosis and diarrhoea.
Also speaking, Mr Jim Jobe, leprosy and tuberculosis inspector at the Jammeh Foundation for Peace Hospital, said: “There are dozens of TB suspects in the community who did not report to the health facilities due to lack of awareness. Considering these figures, it shows that a lot of people in these communities are at risk of being infected with TB. According to WHO, one infected person can infect ten within a year. Even though a lot have been done and achieved, more needs to be done particularly in the area of community sensitisation and advocacy as key contributors to stop TB in The Gambia.
“I am confident that by refocusing our attention on the basics, we can strengthen service delivery in The Gambia, by providing technical assistance to help boost the capacity of youth by drawing on community-based strategies and save lives.”
Global Hands is a non-profit organisation under the main umbrella, Global Hands in the United Kingdom, which focuses on capacity building programmes through addressing local and global issues at the grassroots level.
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