PROMOTING PHYSICAL HEALTH OF POST TUBERCULOSIS (P3TB) ADULTS PALI 2022

Introduction
I received an email on the 27th of June 2022 from the Pan African Thoracic Society (PATS) to apply for an event grant under the auspices of the PATS Lung health Initiative (PALI), which aims to raise awareness and advocate for improved lung health in Africa.

The event was designed to support World Lung Day (on 25 September of every year) advocacy programs aiming at promoting lung health in Africa. Luckily for me, my application was successful after I received a congratulatory mail on the 23rd of August, 2022. I quickly started preparations in order to make my proposed event successful as indicated in the proposal.

Printing of educative leaflets/flyers, and branding of gas cylinders, Kitchen aprons, face caps and other gifts items

The principal investigator of the P3TB project along with the resource persons for days prior to the event wrote out, revised, approved and produced draft flyers ahead of the event proper. The final version was printed in form of educative leaflets. About 150 copies of the foldable colored flyers/leaflets were printed each for English and Hausa versions of the flyers. Other items produced included branded face-caps that were given to all volunteers and resource persons and facilitators.

Pre event planning with volunteers

Prior to our event 12 volunteers were recruited from amongst final year students of the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences of Bayero University Kano. The volunteers, the principal investigator and other stakeholders met on the 24th of September at the conference room of the Physiotherapy Department, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria to plan the activities lined up for the event. The training comprised of introduction of volunteers to the project by indicating that it was a PATS Lung health Initiative (PALI). Thereafter, the volunteers were split into groups and trained on different aspects of the day.

Two volunteers manned the registration desk where all participants were first welcomed. They were responsible for taking down the details of the participants (names, address, etc.), issuing leaflets (in both English and Hausa), issuing face masks, give out hand sanitizers for the participants to rub on their palms before entering the venue.

Another set of four volunteers were taught how to measure lung function using a hand held Micro-plus spirometer by a facilitator. Three volunteers were instructed on how to do conduct basic health screening assessments such as weight, height, (+BMI calculation), blood pressure and heart rate  The other three volunteers were exposed to how to properly demonstrate aerobic exercise training using two cycle ergometers provided. All volunteers had the opportunity to demonstrate what they had learned in form of pilot trials and were given the opportunity to ask questions or give suggestions. At the end of the meeting, all participants (facilitators and volunteers) were provided with refreshments (drinks and snacks).

Main event

The main event took place on Sunday 25th of September 2022 at the Lecture Theatre of the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences of Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. Since the event was also in commemoration of the World Lung Day, our event banners and other event items also reflected the “World Lung Health Day” on all print outs. The agenda of the event was strictly followed (see below). All lectures were presented using power point slides and the presentation/explanations were offered using a combination of English and Hausa conducted (see attached power point slides). Four experts were engaged to give the health talk as indicated in the attached programme of event. Refreshments and transportation token were provided for all resource persons, volunteers and participants.

Dissemination and sustainability of the P3TB project!

The P3TB project successfully created awareness to all the direct beneficiaries present at the event on the day. We also believe that the flyers distributed will go a long way in further creating awareness to this particular group of patients. Moreover, the event was attended by the Kano State Coordinator of the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme (NTBLCP) who promised to collaborate with us subsequently. The event was covered by Arewa Radio Kano (https://www.arewaradio.com/ ) and broadcasted in the news in Hausa language (see attached audio clip). The principal investigator, and the Coordinator of the NTBLCP were interviewed (see attached audio clips in Hausa language). The Bayero University weekly Bulletin also covered the event (see page 2 of attached bulletin). Finally, a post containing some pictures and videos were uploaded onto the Facebook account of the principal investigator, with the Pan African Thoracic Society page was tagged in the post (https://web.facebook.com/jibrin.mohammed.33 ).

Acknowledgements

I wish to sincerely thank the Pan African Thoracic Society (PATS) Lung health Initiative (PALI) for providing the grant to conduct this event. I wish to also thank the Bayero University Kano for allowing us to utilize its infrastructure for the event free of any costs.

By Jibril Mohammed (2022)