New church campaign strategy puts public health at high risk

by Alagboso Chibuike

Owerri, Imo state capital in south eastern Nigeria recently woke to a new and quite unique way of public awareness and campaign; a church was distributing flyers from a helicopter!

From a layman’s point of view, it was really amazing and absolutely mind blowing. But as a public health enthusiast, I asked myself “Who approved this?”

I’m not being paranoid here, but what kept coming back to me as I watched the papers drop from the helicopter was the book, Vector by Robin Cook, MD where a disgruntled scientist weaponized anthrax and tried to decimate a population with it using a vehicle.

I couldn’t stop imagining such things.

Clearance for such if at all given would be after careful consideration of the public health impact it can have on the population.

The right questions should also be asked.

The general wellbeing of the society should be considered before permissions for such ventures are granted because it can never be ascertained if the “distributors” have other motives at heart.

If this becomes something that is possible if you are powerful or affluent enough to afford it, then what happens if such clearance gets into the wrong hands considering the security nature of the country and the fact that Nigeria is still building a reliable emergency management system?

The federal ministries of health, defense and other relevant agencies should look into this new dimension of reaching members of the public. As the nation approaches the highly anticipated 2015 general elections, security agencies should ensure that no potential anthrax package drops from the skies to decimate polling zones that may choose not to vote for a candidate.

The religious organizations that are engaging in such from-the-skies campaign should also begin to reevaluate the public health impacts of the actions. They need to start engaging in practices that would promote the general wellbeing of the population and not subject them to potential risks by polluting the ground with litters and the skies with carbon monoxide from their helicopters and rickety automobiles.

Salvation can also come by living healthy lives that are void of dangerous though avoidable complications.