The Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria (APHPN) said it has concluded plans to set up Virtual School with operational centers (studio) in Delta State in the South and the FCT in the north.
The newly elected President of the Association, Dr Terfa Kene who disclosed during the inaugural press briefing of the new EXCO in Abuja on Wednesday, said these virtual learning schools will help the Association disseminate it’s knowledge to the general Public.
Others elected include; President.Professor Omosievue Maduka Vice Preside I, Dr Nyemike Simeon Awunor Vice President II, Dr Augustine Ajogwu Secretary General, Dr Garba Danjuma Assistant Secretary, Dr Juliette Tuman AngoTreaurer, Prof Adegboyega Oyefabi Publicity Secretary, Dr Innocent Alenoghena Internal Auditor, Prof Ololade Wright Editor in Chief, Prof Alphonsus Rukevwe Isara EX Officio I and Dr Alposus Aigbiremolen Ex Officio II
According to him, “We plan to set up the APHPN( Virtual School with operational centers (studio) in Delta State in the South and the FCT in the north.These virtual learning schools will help us ensure that our knowledge reaches out to the general population and remain the sources of verifiable public health information and data”.
This initiative he said, will enable them to engage their colleagues in the diaspora to reverse brain drain in form of knowledge sharing and skills transfer.
Speaking on Innovation and common good, Dr Ken noted that, the the world has changed and is now a global village, hence the need to do things accordingly to align with the changing world while upholding the core principles of public health practice that governs the associations activities intact.
“Innovation is … the process of creating, improving, or implementing new ideas, products, services or methods that add value, We will innovate the process of doing things and intentionally focus on service to the communities we are affiliated to.We chose to remain in Nigeria so we will use technology via telemedicine and online training to reach communities beyond our locations”, he said.
“Public health physicians are usually looked upon as the ‘good shepherd’ of medical practice. When we see one patient in the hospital, we first ensure that the patient receives the best of medical services to restore health. We then design a case definition and set in motion the process of looking for the 99 that are at risk of developing the disease. We then work to prevent the disease from occurring in them, protect the community and promote the health of the people”.
“When epidemics occur, it is actually the failure of surveillance systems so we work hard to manage epidemics.
” We are the only set of medical doctors in Nigeria that have a constituency. Our constituency is the Primary healthcare facilities across Nigeria”.
Dr Ken stated that, as the current President of APHPN, he is the Chief promoter of Public Health in Nigeria and that “when public health fails, every business shuts down. COVID kept us at home to demonstrate that. We are human beings hence we MUST see life from the angle of promoting and protecting the health of people everywhere they work and live”, he added..
APHPN is an association of medical doctors who are specialist in public health and community medicine comprising of Medical Officers of Health who work at the local government level, community health physicians in the academic institutions and public health physicians in Non-academic institutions like Federal Ministry of Health, NGOs, International donor projects and Programmes.
