At Vaccine Network for Disease Control, one of our slogan is “No community is too hard to reach”, that is why over the years we have strived to reach out to the most rural settlements and urban slums across the country in states like Niger, Delta, Imo state and the Federal Capital Territory.
Vaccine started it but we found out that vaccination is not enough to promote community health and development that is why we have spread our scope across education, collaboration, women empowerment, policy advocacy and immunization campaigns.
On the 20th of July, we went for an outing to sensitize the people of Gosa Baruwa, to sensitize them on the ways to curb Gender based violence.
Vaccine Network team was split into two, the first team went to Gosa Baruwa Primary school to educate adolescent girls on gender based violence. The second team visited the community Chief, Chief Monday Kogi to appreciate him for his efforts in curbing gender based violence.
Our first team was led by Mrs. Chika Nwankwo who conducted a lecture on Gender Based Violence to 20 adolescent girls. She spoke extensively on gender roles, GBV and what to do to help victims of GBV.
Mrs. Chika started the lecture by defining gender roles, she explained to the adolescent girls how the society has categorized people based on their genders. She spoke on the negative effects of gender roles, and how it can limit girls from becoming what they want to be. For instance if a woman decides to drive Keke, she would be faced with a lot of resistance because she is a woman.
She categorized GBV into three; physical, sexual and emotional. Thankfully, none of the girls is a victim of sexual and emotional GBV, but most of them are victims of physical GBV.
Our second team was welcomed warmly by Chief Monday Kogi who was appreciative of the efforts Vaccine Network for Disease Control has played in his community. He assured us of his stance against GBV, and his commitment to avoid future occurrence. We handed him his copy of the communique on GBV which he and 39 other Chiefs across FCT signed.
This is what Vaccine Network for Disease Control do, we are committed to reaching out to people no matter where they are.