Health Promotion: Anambra Govt Warns Against Sole Reliance on Prayers for Medical Conditions

By Tony Okafor, Awka

The Anambra State Ministry of Health has called for intensified health education and public awareness to enable residents make informed decisions about their health and seek appropriate medical care when necessary.

The Director of Public Health in the ministry, Dr Anaeme Afam Cyril, made the call on Monday while delivering the opening address at the Anambra State Health Promotion Strategic Framework Costed Implementation Plan Workshop in Awka.

The four-day workshop, which began on Monday and ends on Thursday, is being organised by the Anambra State Ministry of Health with support from the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the World Health Organisation (WHO), through the Health Promotion Unit.

Anaeme advocated a stronger health education system in the state, saying that effective health promotion and communication were essential to improving health outcomes and reducing preventable deaths.

He particularly decried what he described as the over-reliance on prayers and prayer houses in situations requiring urgent medical attention.

According to him, there was an incident in which an accident victim, a school child, was not responding to any stimulus after the accident, but rather than taking the child to a nearby hospital, people around the scene took him to a prayer house.

He said such practices could have fatal consequences, stressing that while prayer could be important to individuals, it should not replace appropriate medical intervention in emergencies.

The Director of Public Health also highlighted the consequences of pregnant women ignoring professional medical advice, particularly during pregnancy and childbirth.

He cited cases of pregnant women who disregarded medical instructions, resulting in serious complications and, in some instances, babies being born with HIV and subsequently requiring lifelong antiretroviral medication.

Anaeme also recalled the case of a woman who had undergone two previous Caesarean sections but ignored medical advice against attempting a vaginal delivery during her third pregnancy.

He said the woman attempted normal delivery despite the medical advice and eventually died in the process.

The public health expert said such tragedies underscored the need for sustained health education so that people would understand the importance of following qualified medical advice.

He urged stakeholders at the workshop to develop a practical and comprehensive health promotion framework that would effectively address the state’s health communication needs.

The workshop is expected to contribute to the domestication of the national strategic framework on health promotion and communication and produce a coordinated five-year framework to guide health promotion activities across Anambra State.

The Ministry, in the invitation to participants, said the initiative was necessitated by the need to address fragmented health promotion efforts, diluted messaging and their impact on population health outcomes.