Written by: Ojo Onikepo Deborah
The reality before us is painful. Our healthcare system is stretched thin, burdened by chronic underfunding and inadequate manpower. People are dying, and our society is bleeding. We’ve seen countless avoidable deaths. Cases where prevention or better management of chronic conditions could have prevented complications. We find ourselves, most times, in a situation where our hands feel tied, even though we swore an oath to save lives.
Prevention, they say, is better than cure. But I believe awareness is the bedrock of prevention. Awareness, in the healthcare context, is the process of informing and educating people about health issues, risks, behaviors, and solutions. Its goal is to ensure that every individual has the knowledge needed for disease prevention. Every day, someone, somewhere, is just one piece of information away from avoiding a hospital admission, preventing a chronic illness, recognizing life-threatening symptoms early, or managing existing chronic conditions to prevent complications.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) places emphasis on the power of awareness in driving better health outcomes. Specifically, SDG3 (Good health and Wellbeing) calls for strengthening health systems, promoting health education, access to accurate health information, and empowering communities with the knowledge needed to prevent diseases. This global mandate reminds us that awareness is not optional but it is a core strategy for achieving healthier societies.
One would think only the older generation lacks awareness. Unfortunately, even Gen Z still shows a huge knowledge gap in the simplest healthcare practices. The world has become a digital village. A single WhatsApp status, Instagram story, TikTok clip or X (formerly known as Twitter) can change hundreds of life at once. These platforms are accessed by a large number of people.
Beyond diagnosis, prescription, medical rehabilitation, bedside care, dispensing, laboratory skills, and other roles, we are custodians of knowledge. According to a philosopher, Francis Bacon, knowledge is power. We often underestimate the power we carry. So, healthcare practitioners, we have the power to drive prevention through awareness.
Awareness is hope.
Awareness is empowerment.
Awareness is prevention.
And prevention will always be better than cure.
Our words can heal long before our hands ever touch a patient. Let’s give awareness the priority it deserves.